Aside from two scoring bursts on the night, the Cerritos College women’s basketball team didn’t play as well as they had been in recent games. However, they were still able to register a 54-41 South Coast Conference crossover win at East Los Angeles College on Wednesday night. The win, their fourth in five games, improved the Falcons record to 15-8 on the season, while the Huskies fell to 6-13. The team will now start South Division play on Friday night when the team travels to El Camino College for their third of five consecutive road games.

    With sophomore point guard Tiffany Wilson (Mayfair HS) out of the game with an injury, the contest against the Huskies gave the coaching staff a chance to see who could handle the position for the time being. Freshmen Rachel Butler (Calvary Chapel HS) and Arielle McClellan (Paramount HS) appear to be the two that will share the duties and both did well in their audition.

    The Falcons started a little slow to start the game, leading just 11-10, but went on an 18-2 run that opened the game up as halftime approached. McClellan scored all 10 of her points in the first stanza and also added five rebounds and three assists, while Butler finished with four points, four rebounds and four assists. Covering the scoring in the first half was freshman forward Mercedes Taylor (Gahr HS), who hit her first five shots, including a pair of three-pointers, and had 12 of her game-high 14 points by intermission. She also added nine rebounds, five steal and four assists.

    In the second half, Cerritos didn’t play nearly as they had when they had during their early run, but did have their lead up to 24 points (46-22) before turnovers allowed the Huskies to make the game more reasonable.

    Sophomore forward Genesis Lewis (Paramount HS) led the team with 12 rebounds and also added 10 points and four assists, while sophomore forward Maltresa Neely (Downey HS) came off the bench and added seven points.