Taking on a Compton College team that had only five players in uniform, the Cerritos College women's basketball team was able to run their up-tempo offense, which resulted in a 73-43 win on Wednesday night. The victory kept the Falcons (14-7, 4-0) in first place in the South Coast Conference South Division and picked up their fifth straight win. The team will play one of their make-up games next Monday when they travel to Los Angeles Southwest College for a 7:00 p.m. game.

Things got worse for the Lady Tartars (3-9, 0-1), who dropped to four players when Destiny Cook was injured in the first half and was unable to return.

As a result, the Falcons were able to distribute their offense and had six of their seven players score in double-figures. Cerritos was also playing without leading scorer Ilani Avila (Downey HS), who missed the game with an injury. Cerritos scored the game's first seven points and never looked back, as they converted 48% of their shots in the first half and limited Compton to just 23% from the field and held a 42-17 advantage.

Cerritos was able to control the boards, with 27 of their 57 rebounds coming on the offensive side. Freshman Dominique Harrison (John Glenn HS), who recorded her first double-double, finished with 10 points and 15 rebounds (nine offensive). The trio of sophomore Therese Zekajj (Legacy HS), along with freshmen Brianna Flores (Norwalk HS) and Cynthia Estrada (John Glenn HS) all scored 10 points, with sophomore Precious Yerena (Downey HS) leading the team with 13 points on 6-of-10 shooting.

The defense forced 26 turnovers and converted them into 35 points, with the Falcons committing just 11 turnovers on the night.

Along with her 10 points, Zekajj also pulled down 10 rebounds, while freshman Ashley Miller (Paramount HS) accounted for 11 points, five steals and four assists. Yerena (five steals, three assists) and Flores (three assists, three steals) each pulled down seven rebounds in the win.

Photos by Daryl Peterson