Women’s Basketball: No. 8 Vikings take Grossmont tournament championship

The No. 8 state-ranked Long Beach City College women's basketball team cruised to its ninth straight win to capture its second consecutive tournament championship following a 74-45 victory over Santa Ana College in Sunday's championship final of the Grossmont College Holiday Classic.

Sophomore Talia Rayford once again led the Vikings with 14 points and 10 rebounds in the rout over Santa Ana. She was named tournament most valuable player after averaging 14 points and nine rebounds over three games.

The Vikings also got 13 points and five steals from freshman Shakeena Benton as well as 12 points from freshman Jasmine Williams.

Santa Ana actually jumped out to an early 5-0 lead after the Vikings turned the ball over and missed their first two shots to open the game.

LBCC finally got to within one point at 13-12 after a pair of free throws by freshman Janissa Zagal at the 10:49 mark. The Vikings eventually took the lead for good after a jumper by Rayford gave them a 14-13 advantage with 10:06 to go in the first.

Long Beach extended its lead with a 14-0 run after two free throws from Williams, back-to-back three-pointers by Benton and freshman Regina Romain, and a jumper by Zagal to take a commanding 24-13 advantage at the 7:32 mark.

The Vikings led 38-24 at halftime and put the game out of reach with a 16-0 run midway in the second.

Head coach Michael Anderson was able to play all 14 members of the roster in today's contest. Zagal had a big game off the bench with 11 points while freshman reserve Crystal Cockerhan also chipped in with nine points and eight rebounds.

Carley Ducat led Santa Ana (8-8) with 13 points while Berlin Ohanesian had a double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds.

Long Beach, now 12-1 overall, can turn its attention to its South Coast Conference showdown against No. 1 state-ranked and undefeated (16-0) Mt. San Antonio College. The two teams square off on Friday (Jan. 4) at the LBCC Hall of Champions Gym at 6 p.m.