Despite the team’s leading scorer, sophomore forward Andrina Rendon, being out because of an injury sustained the day before, freshmen guard Melissa Rendon and sophomore guard Armelia Patterson led the Cerritos College basketball team in its 79-60 playoff win against College of the Canyons in its away game on Saturday.

Patterson talked about some of the things she felt her team did well on during the game.

“I think we played as a team, we rebounded, we made our free throws and we played good defense.”

With 11 minutes left in the first half, the Falcons were able to get an 18-9 lead over the Cougars.

Cerritos College head coach Karen Welliver said, “The women did great during the game. The Falcons did great with their defense, especially since College of the Canyons is a team that can score over 100 points, so I am happy for the girls.

“I’m sad that Andrina broke a bone the day before, which will make her miss the rest of the season.

“The team stepped up, especially Melissa and Armelia offensively, getting 29 and 18 points a piece.”

By the end of the first half, Cerritos was up 38-24 with the younger Rendon having 17 of the points.

Forward Regina English talked about what her team needed to improve on.

“I think we could work on our consistency and defense and making sure that we play hard and work as a team.”

In the second half, the Falcons were able to maintain in a double-digit lead.

“We hustled hard and really talked to each other and had each others’ backs,” English said of the game.

Freshman guard Talor Hixon and freshmen forward Deenesha Bee led the Falcons with rebounds, getting eight and six respectively.

The Falcons will be playing fourth seed East LA College in the third round of playoffs.

“We met twice before this season, getting one win each, and both games were quite close, so I’m looking forward to the game”, Welliver said.