Pumped up with motivation to make this a win, the Falcons fell short and were defeated by the Vikings in over time at Long Beach City College on Wednesday, Feb. 18.
Finishing their regular season in second place in the South Coast Conference South Division.
The first half the game started out a little slow, but picked up by the 10-minute mark. There was a lot of energy from both teams.
Picking up the rebounds and creating great defense.
In the last five minutes of the first half LBCC seemed more aggressive picking up the pace and catching up with the score very quickly.
By the end of the first half the score was 30-27.
The second half of the game started off steady with a little more intensity.
The Falcons were losing their focus and the Vikings were trailing them by a score of 49-46.
Cerritos held LBCC scoreless for the final two minutes of the game as they missed a couple of shots and turned the ball over once.
Falcons guard Cassidy Carrillo tied the game when she drained a three-pointer with only 44 seconds left in regulation.
Long Beach had a final shot, but missed it, which sent the game into overtime.
Over time started with a lot of intensity displayed by the Falcons, who were acquiring most of the rebounds, but committed a lot of turnovers in the last two minutes.
With the time running out in overtime. With only 14 seconds left in overtime and the score being 57-55, the Falcons called a timeout to try and stop the Vikings’ momentum and draw up a play.
But the timeout was not enough to help win the game. During the last six seconds of overtime, Falcons guard Verenice Gomez was fouled, but missed both free throws.
Cerritos acquired the ball back after the Vikings turned it over out of bounds.
On the ensuing inbound play, Falcons forward Aishha Baldwin was fouled with two seconds left, but Baldwin missed both free throws and the Falcons ended their regular season with two-consecutive losses.
Falcons head coach Karen Welliver was disappointed in the loss but content with how strong her team fought to try to acquire a win and said, “We fought really hard.
“We could have done better at the free throw line, could have gotten better on defense. We turned it over a little too much.”
So there’s things we need to work on. But I thought we really competed and we put ourselves in a position, to get back in the game and try to win the game, so that encouraging.”
Falcons guard Michelle Navarro said, “I feel like we had it, but we just ran out of time. Hopefully for we wont turn the ball over as much for playoffs.”
The game was a heart-breaker but the Falcons will find out Feb. 23 where they will be seeded for the upcoming Southern California Regional Playoffs.
