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Women's Water Polo: Long Beach beats Mt. SAC 11-6 for South Coast Conference championship

LBCC Women's Water Polo captured its first South Coast Conference championship since 2010.
LBCC Women's Water Polo captured its first South Coast Conference championship since 2010.

Sophomore Makenna Oberst (Los Alamitos HS/Concordia University-Irvine) scored a team-high three goals while freshman goalie Felicia DePalma (St. Joseph HS) totaled nine saves to help the Long Beach City College women's water polo team defeat top-seeded Mt. San Antonio College 8-6 in the championship final of the South Coast Conference tournament on Saturday at Cerritos College.

The SCC title was the Vikings' first since 2010 and seventh overall since 2001. LBCC went 8-1 in conference games this season.

With the score tied 4-4 at halftime, Long Beach went on to outscore the Mounties 4-2 over the second half to hand Mt. SAC its first conference loss.

Sophomores Ashley Diaz (Esperanza HS) and Cori Reynolds (Poly HS/Long Beach State) both scored twice while freshman Kennedy Conroy (Millikan HS) had four assists.

The Long Beach women's victory capped a conference championship sweep by the Vikings following the men's 13-12 win in the tournament final over Cerritos.

The Vikings reached the championship final thanks to an 11-1 win over Chaffey College in Friday's semifinal. LBCC extended its shutout streak to seven quarters before allowing a Chaffey goal late in the fourth. Freshman Natalie Nilan (St. Joseph HS) led Long Beach with three goals in the Chaffey match.

LBCC will take a 19-9 overall record into next week's Southern California Regional championship tournament. The three-day event runs November 12-14 at Mt. San Antonio College. Playoff  seedings will be announced on Sunday.