Two of the biggest goals for the Santa Rosa Junior College women’s water polo team in a history-making season came from Jessica Loper, a freshman, in the first round of the Big 8 Conference Tournament.

Playing in Merced in early November, Loper’s goal in the third quarter tied the game. The 2007 Vintage High School graduate’s goal from the perimeter in overtime lifted the Bear Cubs over Sierra Community College-Rocklin, 7-6.

“The win was the springboard that launched us getting into the conference championship game, getting us a first round bye in the NorCal playoffs, and eventually led us getting into the championship game at the NorCal playoffs,” said Jill McCormick, Santa Rosa’s coach.

Loper and her twin sister, Melissa, were starters and major contributors to Santa Rosa’s 21-8 overall record, which was highlighted by the Bear Cubs placing second in the Big 8 regular season and conference tournament, second in the Northern California Championships in Palo Alto, and fourth at the state tournament in Fresno. It was the first time for Santa Rosa to play at state.

Jessica Loper, a driver-attacker-center, had 63 goals, 21 assists, 45 steals and 24 ejections drawn. She was named Honorable Mention All-Conference and All-Northern California. She also was named as the co-offensive player of the team.

Melissa Loper, who plays an attacker-field position, had 34 goals, 42 assists, 51 steals and 15 ejections drawn. She was named Second-Team All-Conference, All-NorCal and Second-Team All-American. She was also selected to the All-State Tournament team and was named as the team captain.

“They’re very talented players,” McCormick said Wednesday. “Both Jessica and Melissa were huge leaders on the team, both in the pool and out of the pool. It says a lot when you can come in, be a starting athlete on the team, be on one of the best teams in the state, and be an ‘A’ and ‘B’ student in your very first experience in college. That should tell you something about the quality of these girls. They are just top notch.”

Santa Rosa went 2-1 at the Big 8 Tournament, beating San Joaquin Delta-Stockton 10-8 in the semifinals and losing 11-6 to American River-Sacramento in the finals. The Bear Cubs were 1-1 at NorCals, beating Foothill-Los Altos Hills 8-3 in the semis and losing 12-10 to American River in the finals. As the No. 2 seed in the north, the Bear Cubs were 1-2 at state, winning 6-5 over Fresno and losing 17-0 to Riverside and 12-3 to Long Beach.

“Out of 13 players on the team, 11 were freshmen,” said McCormick. “We knew we had a lot of talent coming in. But all of these girls were coming from high schools, and leadership’s always an issue at a community college level because the kids turn over so fast.”

It’s the furthest Santa Rosa has advanced in a water polo season.

“This is the best team we’ve ever had in the history of the school,” said McCormick. “Our team was so strong that the stats were shared very evenly. It was very balanced. For them (Jessica and Melissa) to have great stats in one of our best years with such a solid team is special.”

Jessica and Melissa will also be swimming for the Bear Cubs this spring.

“The key was the team performed well at the conference and playoff tournaments, and Jessica was huge in that,” said McCormick.

Jessica Loper started out the year at an outside attacker-driver position, but was later moved to center, where she rotated with Benicia High graduate Mandy King, who had 99 goals to lead the team.

“That offensive tactical move, and Jessica being willing to embrace that and do it, was a huge factor,” said McCormick. “In the pool, Jessica was a huge role-filler for us. Our conference is so competitive that teams quickly found out that, ‘OK, we have to double team Mandy.’ They would take our leading scorer out of the game by that double-team. In some games we were able to get our outside perimeter game going and some games we weren’t, depending on the quality of the defensive opponent we were facing.

“As we headed late into the season, we made a switch with Jessica, and we started having Jessica and Mandy alternate in certain quarters and in different halves of going into center. So we took Jessica from a driver-attacker position on the perimeter and moved her into the center position again, which she played more in high school. Jessica didn’t get as much specific training time in that center position because she was focusing more on her perimeter game this year. And she just filled that slot like nobody’s business, and got the job done, drew ejections, put us in power plays, opened up options with Mandy, killed the team’s double teams against us. She was like, ‘You need me to do this? I’m doing it.’ It was a huge key.”

Melissa Loper was a role player on the weaker side of the pool, said McCormick.

“I’d describe Melissa as the glue that held our team together,” the coach said. “She was a ball handler on every offensive and defensive position. She was one of our best defenders.”