Despite connecting on only 8-of-24 field goals, Cerritos College sophomore Jesenia Rendon (Carson HS) went on to score a game-high 31 points to lead the Cerritos College women's basketball team to a 72-65 home win over Grossmont College on Wednesday. The win by the Falcons (11-8) has earned them another home game in their final contest of the Crossover Challenge. They will play on Friday at 7:00 p.m. against an opponent to be determined.

In the win over the Griffins (1-12), Cerritos held a 12-point lead late in the third quarter (56-44). But Grossmont, led by Drew Mendoza, pulled to within 60-57 with 6:59 left on the clock. Struggling to score in the second half, the Falcons relied on Rendon, who netted 11-of-12 free throws in the second half to maintain the lead. After going 3:38 without scoring, Rendon hit a critical three-pointer with 3:04 remaining to put the Cerritos lead at 64-60. Mendoza scored nine of her 19 points in the fourth quarter.

Grossmont gained possession of the ball down by a point (64-63) with less than a minute left. But Mendoza missed a pair of free throws and after a Renisha Billups (Warren HS), Rendon netted a pair of free throws with :04 seconds left to secure the win. For good measure, she hit two more after a Griffins turnover on the ensuing inbound pass.

Twin sister Serena Rendon (Carson HS) added 17 points, with 14 of them coming in the first half, with sophomore Lynette Garcia (Downey HS/Park (MO) University) accounting for 11 points, six rebounds and four assists. Coming off the bench, freshman Jade Johnson (City of Angels HS) pulled down a team-high 11 rebounds to go with six points and three blocked shots.