Playing one of their best games from start to finish all season, the Cerritos College women's water polo team defeated Chaffey College, 9-8 in the South Coast Conference Tournament on Saturday. The win by the host Falcons (10-16) gave them a third place finish in the conference and a win in their final game of the season.

Cerritos opened the game by scoring the first three goals and finished the game by slowing down the pace and effectively held off the Panthers. Leading 9-5 at the early stages of the fourth period after a goal from freshman Janay Williams (California HS), Chaffey did score the final three goals of the game. But the Falcons were intent on using as much of the shot clock and took only two shot attempts in the final five minutes of the game.

Freshman Mikaela Padilla (Schurr HS), who had a team-high three goals, and sophomore Claudia Martinez (Roosevelt HS) each scored goals in the second period to give the team a 5-2 lead heading into intermission. Both teams picked up the offensive pace in the third and each squads scoring three times, with the Falcons countering every Chaffey goal.

Freshman Jenny Parra (Schurr HS) led the team with six steals, while sophomore goalie Amanda Rabb (Gahr HS) turned away six shots in the win.