Women’s Basketball: No. 4 LBCC set to host No. 5 Irvine Valley in third-round playoff game

2016 CCCAA SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA REGIONAL PLAYOFF BRACKET

Thanks to its 64-51 playoff win over No. 13 Riverside City College on Saturday night, the No. 4 seeded Long Beach City College Vikings have advanced to Round 3 of the Southern California Regional Playoffs and will host the No. 5 Irvine Valley College Lasers on Wednesday (Mar. 2) at 7 p.m. at the LBCC Hall of Champions Gym.

Tickets for the state playoff game are $12 for general admission and $8 for students, faculty, staff, senior citizens over 60, and children under 12 years old.

Long Beach improved to 24-5 overall and 8-0 at home this season with the win over Riverside. The Vikings, champions of the South Coast Conference South Division, are making their fifth straight postseason appearance under sixth-year head coach Michael Anderson.

Irvine Valley advanced to Round 3 of the playoffs with its 64-49 win over No. 12 Cerritos College on Friday. The Lasers jumped out to a 23-9 lead after the first quarter and never trailed.

IVC is 22-7 overall this season and finished second in the Orange Empire Conference with a 9-3 mark. The Lasers are led by 18th-year head coach Julie Hanks. Tara Casey (10.9 PPG, 5.3 RPG, 2.3 APG) and Jordan Coleman (8.6 PPG, 3.4 RPG, 3.6 APG) were first-team All-Orange Empire Conference selections.

Wednesday marks the second meeting of the season between the two squads. On Dec. 12 in the Irvine Valley tournament championship final, Long Beach beat IVC 46-40.

LBCC led Irvine Valley 24-18 at halftime and the Vikings were up 40-31 with seven minutes to play after a layup by sophomore Imani Johnson (Carson HS). But a three-pointer by IVC's Casey capped a 7-2 run by the Lasers to get them within four points at 42-38 with 1:55 left. Leading 44-40, sophomore Lupe Cruz (South East HS) grabbed an offensive rebound and scored the put-back basket with 30 seconds left to secure the victory.

The winner of Wednesday night's playoff game will advance to Round 4 to face either No. 1 Mt. San Antonio College or No. 8 Palomar College on Saturday (Mar. 5) at 7 p.m. The Vikings are two victories away from advancing to the State Championships for the first time since 1988.