A final score of 67-74 does not give a clear picture of the game that was played by the Cerritos College women’s basketball team, who played against one of the top five colleges in state, East Los Angeles College.
The game starts off with Falcons winning with center Selena Romero scoring the first basket of the game; the game continues into a tie and finished with an overtime loss of seven points.
Kennedi Cooper, guard, jumps high enough for a pass to tip the ball in the basket.
Cerritos worked hard to maintain their starting lead, scoring 29 points during the first half and 29 points in the second half; with 10.8 seconds left on the clock Selena Romero makes a dramatic two-point jumper and tied the game to send it to overtime.
The Falcons had teamwork and persistence on their side with 54 rebounds, 13 assists and 26 turnovers on the board.
East Los Angeles Huskies took advantage and used their speed to score 12 fastbreak points and making 32.1 percent of their three-point shots.
Having the lead change 13 times and a tied score nine times throughout the game, that had the crowd cheering at every shot.
“They made some big shots, that’s what we have to work on; three point shots were an issue both on defense and offense,” said Head coach Karen Welliver.
The Falcons had a mindset on players passing the ball and all players scoring equally like a team.
“Playing as a team works for us…nerves got to us” said forward Aissha Baldwin as she is proud of the teams effort.
“We had 26 turnovers,” said Baldwin.
During overtime, the Falcons scored nine points and the East Los Angeles Huskies scored 16 points, taking home the win for themselves.
During the overtime period, there was a clear loss of momentum for the Falcons.
“When you let the nerves get you it messes up how you play, ”said forward Miranda Valentin.
Welliver said, “We learn to be tougher throughout the game” and “learn who needs to be covered.”
Putting the loss behind them, the team starts to focus on their next match on Jan. 23 against Mt. San Antonio at home, who is also a top-five state team.
Already thinking of the next game forward Miranda Valentin said ,“(We) learn how to fight through this type of adversity (and we) will be on top.”
