It was slow going for both teams in the first quarter of their women's basketball game on Friday. Host Cerritos College held a slim 8-5 lead after the first 10 minutes against visiting Southwestern College. However, in the second quarter, the Falcons (3-2) started pulling away and opened a 29-9 lead at intermission before going on to a 59-35 victory over the Jaguars (3-4). Cerritos will host Grossmont College at 3:00 p.m. next Tuesday in another non-conference game.

Cerritos started to find their rhythm in the second quarter, as they outscored Southwestern, 21-4. Freshman Mia Avalos (Pioneer HS) started off the quarter by scoring four straight points, with freshman Lauryn Nakamura (Cypress HS) adding the next four to make it a 16-5 lead. Nakamura scored six more points in the quarter and after sophomore Jayden Estrada (Anaheim HS) hit a three-pointer with 22 seconds remaining, the Falcons were comfortably in front. On a hustle play in the final second of the half, Nakamura stole the ball from Naomi Munane and scored on a layup at the buzzer.

The offensive output continued at the start of the second half, with Cerritos scoring the first six points of the third quarter. The largest lead of the game would be 31 points (50-19) with 6:47 left in the fourth quarter. The Jaguars did connect on three consecutive three-pointers in the fourth quarter for their largest point output of the game.

Nakamura led the team with 16 points and added five steals, three assists and two rebounds, with Estrada recording 11 points and six rebounds. Coming off the bench, Avalos scored 11 points, with sophomore Francine Carrillo (Cerritos HS) and freshman Jazzmine Briggs (Lakewood HS) combining for 15 rebounds.

Photos by Daryl Peterson