The Diablo Valley College women’s basketball team played the semifinals game in the Contra Costa College Athletic Association State Semifinals, narrowly surpassing the San Joaquin Delta Mustangs by a final score of 67-59.

The Vikings got off to a strong start as they outscored their opponent by 15 points to finish out the first quarter. The Mustangs battled back in the second quarter, topping the Vikings by 14 points. DVC at the point lead by one point going into the half.

“We have to jump on them early and that’s exactly what we did but we couldn’t obviously contain the lead,” said guard Daisha Abdelkader. “In the end we got the (win).”

Big 8 conference MVP Zahria Hendrix had a pivotal performance for the Vikings, coming out as a the lead scorer with 17 points.

“Just being aggressive really early,” said Hendrix. “That’s one thing that they hammered into my mind. I felt unsatisfied by my performance the other night.”

As the third quarter of the game was coming to a close, Abdelkader threw up a buzz beater for the Vikings that swooshed into the basket, putting the Vikings up 56-47.

“That’s Daisha being Daisha,” said Hendrix. “She had a big performance last time we played Delta so it just seemed like it was meant to be.”

In the fourth quarter of the game, guard Sierra Smith found herself in foul trouble, with a total of five personal fouls on the night. Guard Jasmine Kong took over for her, playing aggressively to help the Vikings make a solid close out for the game.

“When someone fouls out on this team, I have to step my game up and do the jobs that my teammates and my coaches want me to do,” said Kong. “When Sierra fouled out my job was to defend and also to score when I needed too.”

The Vikings are slated to face off against Moorpark in the championship round. This matchup will definitely be a challenge for DVC, as the team knows they have to make some adjustments before the start of their game tomorrow.

“Just for us to maintain our focus,” said head coach Ramaundo Vaughn. “Some of the three’s we took tonight and even yesterday were kind of questionable. We just want to have a better shot selection and do a better job of not getting beat so badly on the glass.”

The CCCAA State Championship game will take place on March 17 at 3:30 p.m. To those interested in viewing the championship game itself, SoCal College Sports is streaming the game live, found here.