Despite turning the ball over 23 times, the women’s basketball team’s defense helped them get a win over Los Angeles Southwest at 72-50.

The Falcon’s defense limited the Cougars to 7-34 from the field for the game.

The Cougars failed to convert on the Falcons’ turnovers, scoring just 15 points.

Karen Welliver, head coach for the Falcons, said that the turnovers were something the team had been working on.

“We’re young, we don’t have that many sophomores so we get excited and we rush a little bit, and we have to keep working on composure,” Welliver said.

The first half ended with the Falcons leading with a score of 37-17.

The Cougars responded in the second half by scoring 35.

However, that wasn’t enough as the Falcons finished with the win.

Kennedi Cooper, guard, said even though the team struggled in the second half, the team still persevered.

“We fell off a couple times but we continued to keep with it and stick together,” Cooper said.

Selena Romero, center, led the team in scoring with 12 points.

“I just knew that I had to come in today and be focused,” Romero said. “Throughout the game after I started hitting a couple shots I felt better and decided to take more shots.”

The team recorded 55 rebounds compared to the Cougar’s 35.

Welliver said that it was the team’s size that benefited them the whole night.

“We’re bigger than a lot of people so you want to look inside and we usually do a really good job getting the offensive rebounds,” Welliver said.

The Cougars had a difficult time scoring in the game.

The Falcons held the team to 24.3% from the field, according to the cerritosfalcons.com.

Welliver said that defense is always a priority when the team comes into games.

“For us, everything starts with defense and overall I thought we did a pretty good job,” Welliver said. “They mix some things offensively so we tried to adjust to that.”

The Cougars were inefficient at the three-point line, shooting 5-30 during the game.

The Falcons hope to win their third consecutive conference game against El Camino College on Jan. 14. at 5 p.m.