Facing the state's #4-ranked team, the Cerritos College women's basketball team battled Long Beach City to the end in their South Coast Conference game on Wednesday night. The Falcons (9-8, 2-1) were within five points with 7:51 remaining in the game, but struggled to score after that and ended up suffering a 59-46 setback. The team will travel to East Los Angeles College on Friday for a 7:00 p.m. contest.

After falling behind the Vikings (16-2, 3-0) early in the game, Cerritos continued to fight hard and found themselves down just one point (34-33) after a three-pointer from sophomore point guard Priscilla Valdovinos (Fremont HS). But a three-pointer by LBCC's Abbey Goodsell, a pair of baskets from Shakeena Benton and another trey from Destinn Romain pushed it to a 47-38 deficit.

A pair of baskets from sophomore forward Alii Salone (Gahr HS) and Valdovinos closed the gap to 47-42, but points became hard to come by in the final 7:51. The Falcons were only able to score six points the rest of the game, while the Vikings used their size advantage, as well as success at the free throw line to close out the game.

Sophomore forward Nia Lateju (Norwalk HS) led all scorers with 18 points and pulled down 12 rebounds, as she helped get the team to within striking distance. She scored seven straight points right before the Valdovinos (11 points, five rebounds) three-pointer that got the team to within a point. Salone finished with eight points, while the team played without sophomore guard Jacalyn Saiza (Santa Fe HS), who was injured early on and did not return.

Earning extra minutes were sophomores Tache' King (Gahr HS) and Dijonnae Murphy (Santa Fe HS), who both played extremely well. King had four assists and three rebounds, while Murphy hauled down nine rebounds.