Ohlone College 75, Chabot College 71For some years in the '70s, we lived three doors down from the Bowers family. Tim the eldest son took meticulous care of his bicycle. My father once pissed me off extraordinarily by making one of his triannual appearances, then paying most of his attention to little sister Paula Bowers. The younger son Kevin won a couple of player of the week awards in the Hayward Area Athletic League as a shooting guard for Tennyson High School.
When Kevin got to college age, there was buzz in our community about where he'd go, and he wound up at Ohlone College in Fremont.
The way I understand this now is that Kevin was good enough to star in the Hayward high school league, but wasn't good enough to play for Hayward's junior college. Chabot College attracted players like Lester Conner, who transfered to Oregon State, then played in the NBA for 12 seasons.
There's always been some rivalry between the two Southern Alameda County junior colleges. For instance, over who got the Lester Conners, and who got the Kevin Bowerses.
Saturday, Ohlone coach Elizabeth Stanley used the words "crosstown rival" following her Renegades' 75-71 win over host Chabot.
The Gladiators led 38-35 at the half, and stretched it to eight at 51-43, but Ohlone then — to use a tired cliché — turned it up a notch. Ohlone went on a decisive 18-2 run, holding Chabot to 0-for-7 shooting with three turnovers. Freshman guard Cassie Bates scored nine points and added an assist during the Ohlone surge.
Eleven of Ohlone's second-half points were on second chances. "For a while there, we were one and done," said Stanley, "but at the end of the first half, we got on the offensive glass, and we took four charges. We took the ball out of their hands; that was the difference in the ballgame."
Stanley cited guard Bradleigh Miller ("tenacious") and post Markiell Styles ("she really got after it") for their rebounding. Both recorded double-doubles; Miller had 13 points and 10 rebounds, Styles 12 and 10.