The Cerritos College Falcons women’s basketball team fell short against the Long Beach City College Vikings on their last game of the season to a score of 68 to 48 as they continued to struggle with limited bench options on Feb. 19.
Early in the season, the Falcons had to deal with many injuries that limited their bench options.
“I hope I never have this many again in my career I’ve been coaching for 20+ years and this is the most season ending with a couple of knee injuries and concession,” said head coach Trisha Kozlowski.
The Falcons trailed against the Vikings the whole game but although playing from behind the Falcons had multiple offensive runs that got them closer to the Vikings.
After trailing 17 to 9 in the first quarter, the Falcons continued to show heart in the second quarter with a three-pointer from sophomore guard, Jayden Estrada, who finished the game with 9 points 6 rebounds and 2 assists.
Another stand-out player was freshman guard Lauryn Nakamura who led the team in scoring with 14 points alongside three rebounds and three assists.
The 3rd quarter started with the Falcons down 32-20 but the Falcons brought that scoreline closer with Nakamura scoring a basket and freshman forward Jazzmin Briggs scoring a layup and two free throws making the score 35 to 27.
Briggs made her presence on the court known with her always getting into position to steal the ball and dive for rebounds with her leading the team in rebounds with 8 alongside her 6 points and an assist.
“Playing for our sophomore it’s the last game and the season was rough so I feel like even if we lost or a win game I feel like we were playing with our heart out was what we did tonight,” Briggs said.
The Falcons continued to put up shots and weren’t scared to drive into the paint although being undersized these factors did play a part in the Falcons’ loss.
“We got killed in the paint just with their size and stuff and we kept them off the boards in the first half, which is hard to do then,” Kozlowski said.
Kozlowski continued, “I think the boarding differential was because we missed so many shots we didn’t shoot well enough to win a game “50% from the free throw line is beneath us.”
The Vikings have now snapped the Falcons four-game winning streak and making the Falcons’ final record 12-14.
Although the Falcons had to deal with so much coach Trisha Kozlowski praised the team, “Couldn’t be prouder of our kids all year long representing all of Cerritos in the best way possible.”
