Freshman Lupe Cruz (South East HS) posted a double-double with 16 points and 15 rebounds while sophomore Darshana Taafua (Western HS) added 16 points and seven boards to help lead the Long Beach City College women's basketball team to a 78-59 win over the visiting Los Angeles Trade-Tech College Beavers in both teams' South Coast Conference opener on Wednesday night at the LBCC Hall of Champions Gym.

The win improved the Vikings to 10-5 overall and 1-0 in SCC play while LA Trade-Tech dropped to 7-7 and 0-1.

Long Beach shot 53 percent from the field, making 31 of 58 attempts on the night while also outrebounding the Beavers by a 54-36 margin.  

The Vikings led 25-20 at the 6:33 mark before closing out the first half with a 15-2 run, including six points from Cruz.  LBCC led 40-22 at the break and never looked back.

Four of the Vikings' five starters scored in double figures. Freshmen Jessica Njoku (Narbonne HS) and Kayla Sii (Lakewood HS) both added 10 points while freshman Imani Johnson (Carson HS) chipped in with eight points.

Tasheba Henry came off the bench to score a game-high 20 points for LA Trade-Tech while Adriana Anderson had 14 points and 10 rebounds.

Long Beach returns to action on Friday (Jan. 9) when the Vikings host El Camino College in a SCC game at 5 p.m.