Cuesta Women's Basketball finished its first swing through the Western State Conference with a victory over visiting Los Angeles Pierce, 81-77.  The Cougars and the visiting Brahmas are two of four teams in the six-team WSC-North that boast a winning record and entertain a legitimate playoff hope.  Cuesta has not been to the post-season since 2015, but in his third season at the helm Coach Casey Blair has his team in the hunt.  Tonight, his Cougars came out strong to defend their homecourt and opened the game with a 16-12 advantage in the first quarter, which they built into a double-digit lead at the intermission, 44-32.  Cuesta added three more points to their lead going into the final quarter, when the Brahmas struck back.  Pierce took back almost the entire lead by outscoring Cuesta, 24-13 over the last ten minutes.  The Cougars, who entered the game just 2-5 in games decided by ten or fewer points, held strong and sank their free throws down the stretch to secure the triumph, 81-77.  Freshmen Reese Pasternik (pict-L) and Karla Lukas (pict-R) led the way for Cuesta.  Pasternik scored a game-high 32 points, while adding nine rebounds, six assists and six steals.  Lukas added 20 points, five boards, four assists and swiped a half-dozen steals of her own to aid the Cougars' efforts.  The victory moved the Cuesta's record to 13-9 overall and 2-4 against the Western State Conference.

The Cougars continue this week's homestand on Saturday (5 PM) as they open the second round of WSC play against visiting Santa Barbara City.  The Vaqueros upset Cuesta, 63-57, to open WSC play in Santa Barbara on January 10.  The Cougars are currently one-game behind the Vaqueros in the WSC tables.