The Cerritos women’s basketball team took a thrashing loss against the Long Beach City College Vikings, losing 59 – 81 on Feb. 7.

Both teams opened hot, but the Vikings quickly took the lead and kept it. The Falcons had no response. They tried to adjust with constant player changes, but they could not keep up.

Every quarter the Vikings made sure to widen the gap.

Cerritos tried for a comeback in the third quarter; they went shot-for-shot, but the Vikings had too big a lead by then. The Falcons lost their vigor by the fourth quarter.

“We didn’t follow our game plan and we didn’t play hard for 40 and I’m disappointed that we played scared at the beginning,” Falcons head coach Trisha Kozlowski noted, “Our number one game plan was to stop them in transition and they just ran us off the floor in the first quarter.”

The Vikings played an iron defense, locking the Falcons away from their hoop.

Along with focusing on the fundamentals of basketball, Tay Adams, head coach for Long Beach said “Our motto of course: ‘Offense will win games, but defense wins championships’ and we are trying to go all the way.”

“We teach that defense will start the momentum for offense. You start, you do your work here, you do your work early and the offense will flow,” she added.

Makayla Moore was able to bypass the Vikings’ impenetrable defense by avoiding it all together with her perfectly aimed three-pointers.

She made three, three-pointers and made a total of 14 points, making her the second highest scorer in the game just behind Damarie Saldivar.

Moore said, “I think staying positive and being ready when your number is called and shooting with confidence helped me.”

“She came in shooting which was great. She was a big lift and a big spark for us out there. I’m really happy that she had a game like that today. She definitely earned it,” Coach Kozlowksi said of Moore.

The Falcons struggled to catch rebounds the entire game, at times not even attempting. They totaled 25 which the Vikings made sure to punish with their 52 rebounds.

Coach Kozlowski was firm, “That’s not how basketball at this level works. Everyone has to board. If you’re given up some height, everyone has to be physical and get scrappy and rebound as a unit. We’re not growing five inches in the next couple of weeks.”

Their undefeated record in this conference has been stained by this loss, but Coach Kozlowski is still optimistic.

“We’re gonna get into practice and we’re gonna grind,” she was determined, “Let’s try to get better and beat Compton, get Southwest, get Harbor and then Sophomore night is Long Beach back at our place.”

“I’m disappointed. I know the players are, but you have to respond. You have to come back and play hard, you have to practice everyday. So that’s what we are going to do.” She said.

The Falcons will play at Compton College and take on the Tartars on Feb. 14.