Facing the top-ranked team in the state on Wednesday night, the Cerritos College women's basketball team was defeated, 81-47. After their loss to East Los Angeles College (16-1), things don't get any easier for the Falcons (5-12), who will take on Mt. San Antonio College at 4:00 p.m. in a game to be played at El Camino College.

As they have done in many of their games this season, the short-handed Falcons have been able to stay close to their opponents for the first 20 minutes of the game. But their lack of depth on the bench has caught up to them as the game progresses, and it was more of the same against the Huskies.

It was a 37-28 deficit at halftime for Cerritos, but East Los Angeles used their overall height and bench strength to pull away for the win. As a team, the Falcons shot a solid 44% from the field, but committed 18 turnovers and pulled down only three offensive rebounds.

Kaylyn James (Lakewood HS), the team's lone sophomore, came off the bench to lead the team with 16 points and pulled down six rebounds. Freshman Alexis Clark (Mayfair HS) also hauled in six boards and contributed eight points, while freshman guard Angie Ferreira (Long Beach Millikan HS) drained a pair of three-pointers to enable her to post 10 points. The team also received six points and four rebounds from freshman Crystal Rodriguez (El Rancho HS).