Needing wins in their last two games in order to earn a share of the South Coast Conference South Division title, the Cerritos College women's basketball team suffered a 60-50 loss at the hands of El Camino College on Wednesday night. The Falcons (19-10, 5-2) close out their regular season onFriday at 5:00 p.m. when they host division champion Long Beach City College in the school's annual Coaches vs. Cancer game.

Fans are asked to make a minimum $5 donation for entrance into the game, with all proceeds going to the American Cancer Society.

Cerritos was looking to put themselves in position to face the Vikings (23-4, 7-0) for a shot at a piece of the championship. But foul trouble, struggles from the field and the absence of a starter hindered the team's chances against the Warriors (14-13, 5-3).

Within the first two minutes of the game, freshman leading scorer Allyson O'Brien (La Habra HS) was saddled with two fouls and sat out the remaining 18 minutes of the first half. The team was already missing sophomore forward Miranda Valentin (Bellflower HS) and her seven points and six rebounds a game due to an injury suffered in practice earlier in the week. And when the team was forced to foul late in the game, El Camino's Meghan Peneueta netted eight straight free throws and finished with 26 points, with 13 of them from the charity stripe.

The Falcons turned a 17-8 first quarter deficit into a 22-21 halftime lead, as they limited the Warriors to just four second quarter points. The team led by as many as six points (34-28), but failed to score in the final three minutes of the first half.

Along with Peneueta, who also netted a trio of three-pointers in the second half, Kyla Jolly buried a pair of three-pointers in the fourth quarter. The first gave the Warriors a 38-34 lead with 9:08 left in the game, while the second made it a 48-39 Falcon deficit with 4:31 left.

Sophomore Sydney Lopez (Whittier Christian HS) and O'Brien, who finished with 13 points, connected on back-to-back treys to get to within 48-45 with 3:28 remaining. But it would be 2:17 until O'Brien scored the next bucket - a three-pointer. But that only got the team back to within six points, as Peneueta was connecting on eight straight free throws.

Sophomore Verenice Gomez (Whittier HS), who hit four three-pointers on the night, finished with 12 points, while sophomore Ashley Flores (California HS) pulled down 10 rebounds to go with her six points.