The Long Beach City College women's basketball team hosted the El Camino College Warriors in South Coast Conference (SCC) action on Friday night on home hardwood in the Hall of Champions gym. Despite outscoring the Warriors in the first and fourth quarters, the Vikings ran out of steam en route to a 56-65 defeat to push their losing streak to six games.
Freshman guard Alexis Camarena (Ventura, CA) was responsible for the opening two points of the game by working her way to the charity stripe and cashing in. Freshman guard Vivian Hernandez (Downey, CA) later followed with a three, backed by a jumper off the hand of freshman guard Tiana Augustus (Long Beach, CA) to maintain a 7-all score. Sophomore guard Miranda Martinez (Placentia, CA) capped off the first quarter by hitting a jumper to give the Vikings a 13-12 advantage.
The Vikings struggled in the following quarter by only scoring 11 points. Seven of those points came from Martinez, as she hit a shot from beyond the arc and drilled three buckets leading to a 24-26 deficit at the half.
A 6-0 run for the Warriors to kick off the third quarter did not help the Vikings attempts to come back, but they continued to battle. Augustus snapped the streak by hitting a 12-foot jumper, followed by a three pointer from Hernandez to bring them within six points of the lead. Freshman guard CeAirra Clement (Long Beach, CA) dished out a prime assist to freshman guard Janay Wellington (S.D. Paradise Hills, CA) who kissed a layup off the glass. Augustus followed suit by snapping the bottom of the net with a jumper.
From then on, the Vikings continued to turn the ball over and not capitalize on easy buckets. An attempted fourth-quarter push that saw Wellington and Augustus combine for 14 points was not enough, thus leading to a loss.
Augustus led the way with 16 points and eight rebounds. She also pocketed four steals. Martinez was a rebounds shy of a double-double as she netted 14 points and reeled in nine boards.
Wellington saw her largest offensive output of the season with 13 points and six rebounds.
The Vikings will face off against LA Southwest on Wednesday, January 2 on the road. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m.