Nguyen’s Career Night Leads Warriors Past Santa Ana

TORRANCE, Calif. – Sophomore Ashley Nguyen set a new career mark in scoring on Friday night as El Camino College downed visiting Santa Ana 64-57 in the final game of the 2019 ECC Christmas Crossover at the ECC Gym Complex.

Nguyen dropped 25 points for the Warriors (4-8), eclipsing her previous career high of 24 points, on Friday night as she was a perfect 10-for-10 from the charity stripe and went 7-for-15 from the field overall. Nguyen added five rebounds and three assists in the victory as the Warriors won their second game in the last three outings.

Alexia Mason pitched in with 15 points and six rebounds, Kourtnie Smith grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds and Alexandra Ambriz added four blocked shots in 22 minutes off the bench.

For the Dons (5-7), Nicole Robles led the way with 14 points and Lexi Ross added 13 in the losing effort.

The teams were tied nine times and traded the lead on eight occasions but the Warriors never trailed by more than five points throughout the contest.

The Warriors trailed for much of the first half but Nguyen's only 3-pointer of the night knotted things up at 29-29 just before the halftime buzzer.

Mason would hit one of two free throws to open the scoring in the second half for ECC and the Warriors never trailed again from that point on.

The Warriors built a 10-point lead with 3:38 left in the third but the Dons would not go away, trimming the ECC lead down to 51-50 with 8:38 left in regulation.

But the Warriors answered with a 9-0 scoring run to pull away again, this time for good.

The Warriors will be off for the holidays and return to action on Jan. 4 with a road game at West Los Angeles.