In a matchup of two of the top teams in the state, the No. 7 state-ranked Long Beach City College women's basketball team suffered a narrow 52-48 South Coast Conference loss to visiting No. 1 Mt. San Antonio College on Friday night at the Hall of Champions Gym.
The loss snapped the Vikings' nine-game winning streak to drop their record to 12-2 overall and 2-1 in conference play. Defending state-champion Mt. SAC (17-0, 4-0 SCC) won its 23rd game in a row, dating back to last season.
Long Beach got off to a quick 4-0 start and led 13-8 at the 9:56 mark after a jumper by freshman Jasmine Williams. But the Mounties rallied to take their first lead of the game after consecutive three-pointers by Tatiana Parish and a layup by Ashley Burchfield put Mt. SAC ahead 16-15 with 6:02 remaining in the first.
Trailing 19-18, sophomore Kyrese Montgomery (pictured) buried a three-pointer and added another deep jumper to get the Vikings back in front. Sophomore Talia Rayford sank a pair of free throws with 35 seconds left in the half to send LBCC into the break with a 25-21 lead.
Mt. SAC opened the second a big run of its own to get back in front. After LBCC's Shakeena Benton opened the second with a jumper, the Mounties put together a 9-0 run, getting five points from Burchfield and four points from Shawlina Segovia to take a 30-27 lead at the 16:07 mark in the second.
Long Beach countered with an 11-3 run of its own. Rayford opened the streak with a three-pointer before Montgomery added another big three-point shot at 9:09 to extend LBCC's lead to 36-32. Rayford and Williams closed the run with jumpers and the Vikings had a six-point lead (40-34) with 5:35 left in the game.
Once again, Mt. SAC wasn't out for long. The Mounties scored the next four points to tie the game up at 40-40 and took the lead for good on a give-and-go layup by Segovia off the pass from Morgan Mason to take a 46-44 advantage with 1:25 left.
Turnovers hurt the chances of any possible Long Beach comeback. The Vikings turned the ball over four times over the final two minutes, resulting in five of Mt. SAC's final eight points of the game.
The Vikings also couldn't overcome a rough night shooting. Long Beach made a season-low 29 percent of its field goals (17 for 58) and converted just 11 of 22 free throws.
Rayford posted a double-double to lead Long Beach with 19 points and 10 rebounds. Despite being in foul trouble, sophomore Kaaron King had an impressive game collecting six points, six blocks, four rebounds, and three steals in just 20 minutes.
Mt. SAC got 14 points and seven rebounds from Segovia while Burchfield totaled 13 points and eight rebounds.
Long Beach returns to action next Wednesday (Jan. 9) when it hosts El Camino College-Compton Center in a 7 p.m. South Coast Conference game.
Photo by John Fajardo