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Big shot lifts PCC

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The following are updates on local athletes at the collegiate level.

Stella Ghazarian (Glendale, 2011) freshman, Pasadena City College women’s basketball: Known for her sharpshooting skills since her days as a Nitro, Ghazarian came through in a big way for the Lancers in their 67-65 win over Antelope Valley on Wednesday in the first round of the CCCAA Women’s Basketball Southern California Regional playoffs.

Ghazarian sank the game-winning three-pointer with 12 seconds left, her seventh long ball of the game, and finished with a team-high 27 points to spark 15th-seeded PCC’s comeback from a 25-point deficit in the second half.

“My teammates set up my shots and I just hit them,” said Ghazarian, who helped the Lancers improve to 17-12. “They were looking for me and I was moving around. It’s them, not me.”

Going into Saturday’s second-round game against No. 2 Ventura, Ghazarian is averaging 12.2 points per game and has hit 80 three-pointers, including a South Coast Conference-best 73.

Kris Kauppila (Crescenta Valley High, 2008) senior, University of Portland baseball: The Pilots played just two games during the week of Feb. 12-19, but Kauppila’s outstanding performance in a season-opening, two-game sweep of Stephen F. Austin in Beaumont, Texas, were enough to land the shortstop West Coast Conference Player of the Week honors.

Kauppila opened his season by going three for five with a double, three runs batted in and three runs scored in an 11-0 win on Feb. 17 before leading off the Pilots’ 10-5 win on Sunday with a home run en route to a two-for-four day with a walk and three more runs scored.

In the Pilots’ home opener against Concordia on Tuesday, Kauppila kept it going with two more hits, including a three-bagger, in five at bats with a run scored in the 11-4 win to take a .500 batting average and .929 slugging percentage with four RBIs and seven runs scored going into today’s home game against Creighton.

Nina Moore (Glendale Community College, 2010) senior, Long Beach State women’s track and field: Moore won the 3,000-meter race in 10 minutes, 51.40 seconds in a non-scored meet Wednesday against host Riverside Community College, which served as a tuneup for the upcoming outdoor season.

Moore’s teammate Rose Del Toro, also a former Vaquero, added to her list of 49ers records on Feb. 11, when she clocked a 9:34.81 in the 3,000 at the Husky Classic in Seattle.

Moore and Del Toro both competed in the fall for the Long Beach State women’s cross-country squad, which was bestowed 2011 Division I All-Academic Cross Country status from the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association on Feb. 13.

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