In their final tournament of the season, the Cerritos College women's basketball team pulled out a pair of close games over the course of the three-day Colleen Riley Classic at Fullerton College. The Falcons opened with a 71-60 win over Porterville College and followed that with a close 58-54 win over #23-ranked Citrus College. In their final game, Cerritos (5-8) dropped a 66-61 score against the host Hornets. After the Christmas break, Cerritos will travel to Los Angeles Mission College for a 5:00 p.m. game on January 3.

 

Cerritos vs. Porterville: In the first quarter against the Pirates, the Falcons turned an 11-6 deficit into a 17-11 lead by the end of the quarter, which included four free throws and a three-pointer from freshman Genesis Salinas (Downey HS) to end the stanza. The lead swelled to 23-11 in the second quarter and just when Porterville started to make a run, Salinas knocked down another three-pointer and a pair of buckets to put the team up, 39-27 at intermission.

The lead swelled to as high as 21 points (48-27) in the third quarter and then it was 58-32 with 1:55 left in the quarter. The Pirates made a final push in the fourth quarter, but could never cut the Falcons lead under double-digits. Freshman Lauryn Nakamura (Cypress HS) led the team with 18 points and seven assists, while Salinas finished with 15 points, eight rebounds and five assists. Sophomore Francine Carrillo (Cerritos HS) turned in a double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds in the win, with sophomore Jayden Estrada (Anaheim HS) recording eight points, eight rebounds and seven assists.

Cerritos vs. Citrus: In a back-and-forth game with the Owls, the Falcons received a couple of breaks late in the game. Trailing 50-49 with less than two minutes remaining, Estrada hit a jumper and followed with a baseline three-pointer to put the team in front, 54-50. Coming out of a timeout leading 54-52 with 58 seconds left, the Owls Jolleen Olia stole the inbound pass and went in for an uncontested lay-up. However, she missed the shot, with freshman Jazzmin Briggs (Lakewood HS) pulling down the rebound. Salinas was then fouled with 14 seconds left and she converted both to make it a 56-52 lead. Nakamura sealed the win with a pair of conversions from the charity stripe.

Salinas (15 points, eight rebounds, six assists), Estrada (12 points, four rebounds, four assists) and Briggs (10 points, nine rebounds) led the team, while the tandem of Nakamura and Carrillo combined for nine points and 13 rebounds. Freshman Natalie Poppin (La Habra HS) also hit a trio of three-pointers to account for her nine points.

 

Cerritos vs. Fullerton: Taking on the host Hornets in the final game of the tournament, the Falcons gave up the first 11 points of the game and then trailed by 14 points in the second quarter with 7:12 remaining in the first half. Cerritos then went on a 14-0 run to tie the game, with Briggs accounting for eight of those points. Although they never led in the game, the Falcons were able to tie the score several times, including 46-46 with 7:24 remaining in the fourth quarter after a Nakamura layup. In the final 3:00 of the game, Fullerton netted 7-of-10 free throws to hold on for the win.

Salinas led the team with 17 points and added six rebounds, with Nakamura (16 points, four rebounds, three assists) and Briggs with 10 points and 10 rebounds all scoring in double-digits. Estrada and Carrillo combined for 11 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists.