Late-Game Woes Haunt Women's Basketball in SCC Opener against LA Harbor

The Long Beach City College women's basketball team kicked off South Coast Conference play against the LA Harbor College Seahawks on Wednesday night in the Hall of Champions gymnasium. Despite leading the way after the first quarter and remaining competitive through the third quarter, the Viking's sloppy fourth-quarter play resulted in a 59-70 defeat.

The Vikings saw their largest offensive output in the first quarter by dropping 21 points collectively.

Despite allowing the Seahawks to jump out to an early lead, sophomore center Miranda Martinez (Placentia, CA) helped snag the lead right back with a layup with five minutes remaining. Freshman guard Vivian Hernandez (Downey, CA) took over for the remainder of the first quarter by totaling four, three pointers en route to a 21-13 advantage.

Freshman guard Janay Wellington (S.D. Paradise Hills, CA) worked her way to the charity stripe to begin the second quarter and hit one free throw, but that only kicked off a 7-1 run for the Seahawks. Wellington snapped the scoring spurt with a layup later on followed by assisting on a made jumper off the hand of freshman guard Tiana Augustus (Long Beach, CA). Wellington continued to remain aggressive by cashing in two points at the charity stripe, while Martinez and Augustus closed out the scoring for the Vikings with consecutive buckets to hold a slim 33-30 advantage at the half.

Long Beach came out of the gates hot by snagging the first two points off the third quarter with a layup from Martinez and a jumper from Hernandez. Freshman guard Alexis Camarena (Ventura, CA) pitched in a three pointer as well to hold a 40-32 advantage early.

LA Harbor pulled within two points of the lead after going on a 8-0 run with just under four minutes remaining, but Hernandez helped the Vikings keep their distance by drilling her fifth three pointer of the game resulting in a 49-all score at the end of the third quarter.

However, despite playing well throughout the opening 30 minutes of action, the Vikings were held to just 10 points committed 11 turnovers in the fourth quarter en route to a 59-70 loss.

Augustus recorded a double-double after hauling in a game-high 14 rebounds and dropping 12 points. Martinez backed her with a double-double by recording 12 points and crashing the boards for 12 rebounds.

Hernandez led the way on the scoring front for Long Beach by knocking down five three pointers in a 17-point effort.

The Vikings were bit with the turnover bug after coughing the ball up 31 times.

Long Beach will look to snap a five-game losing streak by facing off against El Camino College at home at 7 p.m. in conference action.