The Long Beach City College women's basketball team hit its home hardwood for the first time in the 2016-17 campaign by facing off against the state's No. 6 Palomar College Comets. After holding a two-point edge entering into the second half of the contest, the Vikings struggled in the latter part of the contest and failed to close out the game en route to a 51-62 defeat.
Despite the final score, the contest was tight from wire-to-wire with the score teeter-tottering between squads. The difference in the contest was the turnover margin with both teams combining for 58 turnovers. The Vikings recorded six more than the Comets.
The Vikings trailed early by a margin no larger than three pointers throughout the majority of the first quarter. With a hair over two minutes remaining, freshman guard Alexis Camarena put Long Beach up by a point with a layup. Sophomore guard Ayerjenne Jeanmard followed a possession later by drilling a jumper to extend the Vikings lead. Freshman forward Brittnay McDaniel closed out the scoring for the Vikings in the first period by grabbing an offensive rebound and kissing two points off the glass to hand the Vikings an early 12-9 advantage.
Long Beach fumbled early in the second quarter due in part to a pesky Comet defense. Despite going down by 10 points late in the second period, the Vikings battled back to within three points thanks to a three pointer off the hand of sophomore guard Vivian Hernandez. A pair of free throws from Jeanmard trimmed the deficit to 23-25 entering into halftime.
Long Beach got off to a great start in the third quarter by regaining the lead compliments of a five-point outburst from Martinez. She assisted on a Jeanmard's layup a handful of possessions following the scoring spurt. Camarena continued to be quick on the trigger by snapping the bottom of the net from beyond the arc to bring the score to 41-31 in the Vikings favor with just under three minutes remaining in the third quarter.
However, a bundle of turnovers caused the Viking's lead to slip to three points with the scoreboard reading 45-42 entering into the final frame.
The Comets tied up the ball game on the first possession of the fourth quarter and promptly hitt two-consecutive three pointers in a two-minute timespan to put the Vikings in an early fourth-quarter rut.
Long Beach failed to recover from their late-game woes by being halted to just seven points in the final 10 minutes en route to a 51-62 defeat.
The Vikings were bit by the turnover bug as they recorded a season-high 32, allowing the Comets to score 16 points off their mishaps. Additionally, they allowed for 25 points off Palomar's bench.
Jeanmard recorded her second-consecutive double-double by drilling a game-high 16 points and 12 rebounds. She was the lone Viking in double-digit scoring.
Martinez backed her with eight points and 10 boards, while McDaniel chipped in eight points off the pine.
The Vikings will return to action on Tuesday, December 27 by facing off against Skyline in round-one of the 2016 Colleen Riley Tournament in Fullerton, CA. Tip-off is set for 3 p.m.