SAN JOSE >> The Cabrillo College women’s basketball team, coming off a 3-24 campaign last season, took on No. 10 state-ranked San Jose City for sole possession for first place in the Coast Conference South Division on Friday.

Despite suffering a 65-58 road loss to the defending champion Jaguars, the Seahawks aren’t abandoning their goal of going from worst to first in conference, as well as making the postseason for the first time since 2019.

Cabrillo (14-7 overall, 3-1 conference) still has seven games remaining in the regular season, including a home game against Hartnell on Wednesday at 7 p.m.

“I thought the girls played hard,” said Tony Marcopulos, the Seahawks’ first-year women’s coach after leading the men’s program for 20 years. “It’s always disappointing when you’re competing for a conference championship and you lose a conference game — they all matter. But, like I told the girls in the locker room, ‘It only counts as one.’ We’ll get a shot at them again in February and hopefully we can hold serve here and get a little bit better as we go.”

Freshman guard Sydney Chesnut and freshman forward Gabby Brooks each scored 17 points to lead the Seahawks. Brooks scored 13 points in the first half and Chesnut finished with five 3-pointers.

Hayley Johnson, a 6-foot-2 center out of Fremont High, scored 20 points to lead the Jaguars (20-2, 4-0). Guard Synise Byrd made five 3-pointers and scored 19 points.

“I think they kinda willed them through it,” said Lauren Adamek, the Jaguars’ head coach. “Our press was huge It was really helpful. And then we started taking care of the ball on offense, started executing out offense, and got some good looks out of it.”

The teams traded the lead six times in the first quarter, which ended deadlocked at 16-all.

Chesnut made a pair of 3-pointers, one from NBA distance, and sophomore forward Renee Parker added a couple of layups, and Brooks a jumper to help the Seahawks take an eight-point lead, 30-22, midway through the second quarter.

But San Jose heated closed the first half with an 10-2 run, capped by Tatiana Collazo’s steal and transition layup, and the teams entered the break tied at 32.

“Man, we were extremely competitive,” Chesnut said. We were really excited for that game, and I think that was probably one of the best games of basketball we’ve played in a while, so I’m really proud of us. We hung in there.”

Sophomore guard Jade Crum’s 3-pointer gave Cabrillo its last lead early in the third quarter, but the Jaguars, fueled by Johnson’s play in the paint and Byrd’s long range shooting, went on a 16-0 run to blow the game open.

“They rebound the ball really well,” Marcopulos said. “They kinda wore us out. And they hurt us inside. We were concerned before the game with their rebounding. They’re one of the better offensive rebounding teams in Northern California. They’re 19 and 2 or whatever and won 16 games in a row. They’re not 19 and 2 for no reason. They do do a lot of things really well. We took away a lot of that, but we just kinda ran out of gas, and we just made too many mistakes. A lot of unforced errors in critical times. So we gotta clean that up, so we will.”

The Seahawks played catch up the rest of the way and couldn’t compete the comeback.

“I think we did a lot of things well,” Chesnut said. “I think our defense is one of them, and running down the court. We’re not used to teams pushing the ball up like that, so it was a really good testament to how we’ve been running at practice, how much we’re running on our own.”

San Jose attempted 12 free throws before Cabrillo was awarded its first, with 5:04 remaining in the game. The Jaguars finished 11-of-20 shooting from the line. The Seahawks were 5-of-6.

Collazo made two 3s and scored 15 points for the Jaguars.

Parker finished with 10 points and was the Seahawks’ top rebounder. Crum chipped in with nine points.

Men

The Seahawks’ defense held the Jaguars to 13 point under their season average, but struggled themselves on offense. They made just three of their 14 3-point attempts.

Freshman forward Dai’shaun Buie made 10 free throws and scored 18 points to lead the Seahawks. Freshman guard Walzel Evans scored 11 points, and sophomore guard Max Parmigiani chipped in with nine points.

San Jose led 35-28 at the half, and sophomore guard AB Gilchrist scored 12 of his game-high 20 points in the first six minutes of the second half to extend the Jaguars’ lead to 15 points, 51-36. He made three 3s, an impressive fadeaway jumper, and two free throws during a 16-8 run to open the second half. He finished with four 3s.

Sophomore forward Davis Crilly made three 3s and scored 15 points for the Jaguars, and freshman forward Savion Daniels scored 14 points. Santa Cruz’s Tariq Weiser, a sophomore guard out of Bellarmine College Prep, chipped in with seven points for San Jose.