Six days ago, the Cerritos College women's basketball team faced Riverside City College at the College of the Sequoias Tournament and posted a seven-point win. On Friday in their lone non-conference home game, the Falcons (6-5) were unable to repeat their performance and suffered a 73-58 setback against the Tigers (8-4). The team will have a week off before they compete in the West Hills Lemoore College Tournament.

If one thing could point to the demise of Cerritos in their loss was their inability to get to the free throw line compared to RCC. On the night, the Falcons were a respectable 5-for-7 from the charity stripe. However, 29 Cerritos fouls resulted in the Tigers getting to the free throw line 42 times, while they converted 29 of them. They went 23-for-33 in the second half, including 8-of-10 in the final two minutes, which allowed them to pull away for the win.

Sophomore guard Cassidy Carrillo (St. Paul HS) led the team with 13 points and six rebounds, with freshman guard Verenice Gomez (Whittier HS) draining a trio of three-pointers to help her add 11 points on the night before fouling out. She was one of two starters to foul out, as the Falcons emptied their bench. Two other starters went scoreless, while Riverside received 68 of their points from the starting five.

Off the bench, freshmen Sydney Lopez (Whittier Christian HS) and Kennedi Cooper (Lakewood HS) each contributed seven points and combined for seven rebounds, while sophomore center Selena Romero (Lakewood HS) finished with nine points and six rebounds before fouling out. RCC's Tierra Fuqua led all scorers with 19 points.

Photos by Daryl Peterson