The Long Beach City College women's basketball team earned a big win over the Orange Coast College Pirates 62-50 at the Coast Christmas Classic Tournament yesterday afternoon at OCC. With the win, the Vikings advance to 5-6 overall.
The Vikings put pressure on the Pirates at the start of the game with sophomore forward Imani Edmond putting in the first point on the board for Long Beach. Freshman guard Jaseemah Martinez then helped to create a three point opportunity, which was completed by sophmore guard Kaylin Brown. By the end of the first half, the Vikings held a 14 point leadover Orange Coast.
The Vikings continued to dominate the game in the second half. Orange Coast came close to tying the game by the middle of the third quarter, but the Vikings added pressure with a three pointer from freshman forward Kiara Lewis and a layup to extend their lead from Edmond. On the defensive side, the Vikings held the Pirates at 40 points and did not let them score for over five minutes until the quarter finished out.
The Vikings finished the game by adding 13 more points to the board in the fourth quarter. Brown led the Vikings with 18 points and hit four three pointers. Martinez was next up with 15 total points and hit five free throws. Collectively, the team had 17 steals, five blocks and 49 rebound overall in the game.
The Vikings will play again tonight at 7 p.m. against El Camino College in the semifinals of the Coast Christmas Classic.