Long Beach City College's goal of reaching the State Championships Final Four for the first time since 1988 came up two games short as the fourth-seeded Vikings suffered a 45-39 loss to No. 5 Irvine Valley College on Wednesday night in a third-round Southern California Regional playoff game at the LBCC Hall of Champions Gym.
Long Beach scored a season-low 39 points, made just 14 of 54 shots from the field, and was outrebounded by a 40-32 margin --- all crucial elements in the Vikings taking the loss.
LBCC trailed Irvine Valley 11-10 after the first quarter before offense became scarce for both squads. Down 17-12 at the 7:18 mark in the second quarter, Long Beach scored the final seven points of the half to take a 19-12 advantage into the break.
The Vikings and Lasers combined for 28 points over the second and third quarters as IVC held a narrow 26-23 advantage heading into the final period. In the fourth, freshman Sopavy Seng (Poly HS) made a pair of free throws to tie up the game at 29-29 with 7:38 to play. But the Vikings would get no closer. IVC went on a 9-2 run before sophomore Imani Johnson's (Carson HS) three-pointer with 2:18 to play got LBCC within three at 38-35.
Irvine Valley wouldn't give up the lead as the Lasers outscored Long Beach 7-4 the rest of the game to secure their trip to Saturday's regional final game at No. 1 Mt. San Antonio College.
Johnson and sophomore Taylor Smith (Redondo Union HS) both scored nine points to lead the Vikings. Sophomore Christiana Layne (Lynwood HS) had a good game underneath the basket with team-highs of eight rebounds and four blocks. Freshman Miranda Martinez (El Dorado HS) chipped in with four points and six rebounds.
Irvine Valley (23-7) got a game-high 13 points from Jordan Coleman. She was the lone player in the contest to score in double figures.
Long Beach closes out its season with a 24-6 overall record. The Vikings won a South Coast Conference South Division championship with a 7-1 mark and reached the postseason for the fifth straight season under sixth-year head coach Michael Anderson. LBCC will lose seven sophomores from this year's squad as the Vikings rebuild for the 2016-17 season.
