Coming off a tough loss to Long Beach City College last Friday, the Cerritos College women's basketball team rebounded for a 66-48 South Coast Conference South Division win at El Camino College on Wednesday. The win was the eighth in the last nine games for the Falcons (17-8, 7-1), who remain in a first place divisional tie with the Vikings. Cerritos will travel to Compton College on Friday for a 7:00 p.m. game.

The Falcons started to put some distance between themselves and the Warriors (10-14, 4-5) in the second quarter, thanks to freshman Ilani Avila (Downey HS), who scored eight straight points that carried over from late in the first quarter into the second quarter. After a Precious Yerena (Downey HS) basket, Avila netted four straight free throws for a 25-13 lead with 5:52 remaining in the first half. Avila, who hit a jumper in the final minute to give Cerritos a 37-23 lead at halftime, also saw freshman Brianna Flores (Norwalk HS) hit a short jumper to contribute to the team opening their double-digit lead.

After freshman Izabella Apodaca (La Serna HS) made two free throws, followed by a jumper from freshman Cynthia Estrada (John Glenn HS), Cerritos was leading, 47-30 with 4:26 left in the third quarter. 

A three-pointer from El Camino's Brandy Castaneda drew them to withing 12 points (58-46) in the fourth quarter. However, the Falcons responded by scoring eight of the final 10 points of the game to close out the win.

Avila led all scorers with 27 points off the bench in 31 minutes, while also adding six rebounds and three assists. Yerena recorded 12 points, with the Estrada finishing with nine points, seven rebounds and seven steals off the bench. Flores and sophomore Therese Zekajj (Legacy HS) combined for 16 rebounds, with freshman Ashley Miller (Paramount HS) posting five steals in a strong defensive effort.