Women’s Basketball: Long Beach gets No. 7 seed for SoCal Regional Playoffs

SoCal Playoff Bracket

Long Beach City College has been named the No. 7 seed for the upcoming 2012 California Community College Athletic Association (CCCAA) Women's Basketball Southern California Regional Playoffs. With a top-eight seed, the Vikings earned a home game and will host No. 10 seed Cypress College on Friday (Feb 24) at 7 pm in a second-round playoff game at the LBCC Hall of Champions Gym.

Tickets for the regional playoff event are $8 for general admission and $5 for students, staff, faculty, seniors over 60 and children under 12. A $1 parking permit is also required to park in any non-staff lot on the LBCC campus.

Long Beach returns to the playoffs for the first time since back-to-back appearances in 2006 and 2007. This season under second-year head coach Michael Anderson (pictured), LBCC compiled a 19-6 overall record and finished fourth in a tough South Coast Conference with an 11-5 mark.

Despite the fourth-place SCC finish, the Vikings earned their high seeding with numerous quality non-conference wins and the fifth-highest RPI rating in Southern California. LBCC picked up wins over playoffs qualifiers Fullerton (No. 6), Chaffey (No. 8), Saddleback (No. 9), and Cypress (No. 10).

In conference play, LBCC was 0-2 against No. 1 Mt. San Antonio, 0-2 vs. No. 5 Cerritos, 1-1 against No. 4 East Los Angeles, and 2-0 vs. No. 15 Pasadena.

Long Beach's opponent on Friday, Cypress, enters the postseason with a 20-9 overall record and was co-champions of the Orange Empire Conference with a 10-2 mark. Early in the season on November 23, the Vikings edged the Chargers by a final score of 49-40 in Long Beach.

The winner of Friday's game will advance to Round 3 and face the winner of No. 2 Ventura and either Pasadena or No. 18 Antelope Valley. Three wins are needed to advance to the CCCAA Women's Basketball State Championship on March 9 and 11 in Sacramento.

Photo by John Fajardo