After a less than impressive loss two days earlier, the Cerritos College women's basketball team put together one of their best performances of the season. Facing Long Beach City College, who clinched sole possession of the South Coast Conference championship after the Falcons lost to El Camino College, the team defeated the Vikings, 64-43. The win means Cerritos finishes the regular season in second place and will find out on Monday where they are seeded for the Southern California Regional Playoffs. The top 14 seeded teams get a bye in the 1st Round, while seeds 15-18 will compete on Wednesday. Second Round games will take place either next Friday or Saturday.

Long Beach City entered the week ranked #3 in Southern California, while the Falcons (20-11, 6-2) were ranked #10.

It was a 9-9 game in the first quarter until the Falcons started to make their move and pull away early. A pair of converted free throws from sophomore Crystal Lomax (Lynwood HS) and freshman Allyson O'Brien (La Habra HS) were followed by a three-pointer from sophomore Sydney Lopez (Whittier Christian HS), which gave Cerritos a 21-11 lead at the end of the first quarter.

The second quarter saw O'Brien drain a three-pointer from the corner on the Falcons first possession, while an O'Brien running jumper made it a 29-13 advantage with 5:15 remaining in the first half. Cerritos went into intermission with a 31-19 lead, as the limited the Vikings (23-5, 7-1) to 17% shooting from the field after the first 20 minutes.

Near the end of the third quarter, it became a 20-point lead (47-27) on a three-pointer from sophomore Clarissa Hernandez (St. Paul HS). LBCC tried to use an aggressive trap defense to get the Falcons in trouble, and it worked a couple of times. But the porous shooting by the Vikings (13-for-74) prevented them from making any kind of dent in their deficit.

The transition game of Cerritos looked good, as they were able to convert some easy baskets due to the Vikings attempt to double-team players at midcourt. By the end of the game, the Falcons scored 30 of their points in the paint.

O'Brien led the team with 15 points and added seven rebounds, while Hernandez finished with 11 points and sophomore Kennedi Cooper (Lakewood HS) had 11 points, seven rebounds and four assists. Sophomore Ashley Flores (California HS) pulled down 13 rebounds to go with her seven points, with Lopez accounting for seven points and 10 caroms.

Photos by Daryl Peterson