The Cerritos
College women's basketball team played four games at
the College of the Sequoias Tournament over the
weekend and split the four games. But what may be
the biggest loss of the weekend is freshman forward
Amber Finley (Gahr HS), who
was injured in the third game of the tournament. Her
return status is uncertain at this time. The Falcons
opened with an 84-54 win over Porterville College
before an 83-69 loss to Ventura dropped them into
the consolation bracket. Cerritos (5-6) came back
with an impressive 72-68 win over Riverside
Community College before closing with a 72-58 loss
to Santa Barbara City. The team will now travel to
Orange Coast College for a 7:00 p.m. non-conference
game on Friday.
In the victory
over Porterville, 10 different players scored with
four of them being in double figures. The Falcons
opened a 16-point lead at half (40-24), thanks to 12
points from sophomore forward
Mercedes
Taylor (Gahr HS), who went on
to score 16 points, with six rebounds and three
assists. Freshman forward
Vannesa
Faagata (Paramount HS) led the
team with 19 points off the bench, while Finley (10
points, seven rebounds, three assists) and freshman
guard
Cherish
Sanchez (Norwalk HS) added 10
points and five rebounds. Sophomore guard
Rachel
Butler (Downey Calvary Chapel HS)
accounted for nine points, nine rebounds, six
assists and four steals, while sophomore guard
Cecily Garcia (St. Joseph HS)
chipped in with seven points, five assists and four
rebounds.
The Falcons
trailed by 11 at intermission (39-28) against
Ventura and saw a 27-point effort by freshman
Maleta
Daughtery (Redondo HS) go for
naught. Daughtery, who had just two points at
halftime, converted 10-of-20 shots including four
three-pointers. Adding 20 points and a team-high
nine rebounds was Taylor, who connected on a pair of
three-pointers. The two accounted for 29 of the
team's 34 second half points. Butler (10 points,
four rebounds), Faagata (five points, six boards)
and freshman
Raven Tripp
(John Glenn HS), who had seven points and
four rebounds, were the other Falcons to score in
the game.
Against Riverside,
Cerritos had a much more balanced scoring attack,
with five players scoring in double figures.
Daughtery (13 points) and Sanchez (13 points, five
rebounds) led the way, as the Falcons converted
their free throws down the stretch to clinch the
victory. Taylor (11 points, nine rebounds, three
steals) made all four of her shots from the free
throw line down the stretch, as the team went
8-for-8 to seal the win. Butler contributed 12
points, 12 rebounds, four assists and four steals,
while Faagata added 10 first half points and nine
rebounds. Garcia added a pair of free throws down
the stretch and ended with nine points.
The tournament
closed out against Santa Barbara with the Falcons
continuing to play shorthanded without Finley.
Taylor led the team with 18 points and five
rebounds, while Daughtery contributed 12 points,
while Faagata scored all 12 of her points in the
first half and also hauled down six rebounds. Butler
struggled from the field (0-for-8), but still led
the team with eight rebounds and four assists, while
Sanchez put up six points and brought down five
rebounds.
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