SCC North Title In Women's Basketball Up For Grabs

How good is the South Coast Conference North Division in women's basketball in 2019-2020? So good that four of the five teams were ranked on this week's California Community College Sports Information Association (CCCSIA) State Top 20, and the one left out was none other than 2-time defending conference champion Los Angeles Trade Tech. 

With the 8-game, division schedule starting today, January 22, excitement will hit Southland gyms as Trade Tech (13-7) will compete with #8-rated Mt. San Antonio (15-5), #13 Rio Hondo (15-5), #15 East Los Angeles (14-6) and #16 Pasadena City (13-5) in a free-for-all for the 2020 title. The five colleges have a combined winning percentage of .714 (70-28). 

Mt. SAC is the only team this season to have beat #1-ranked San Joaquin Delta (20-1). PCC has a 21-point win v. defending state champ and current #6 Diablo Valley and an overtime victory over #9 Merced. Trade Tech has an 11-point win over #11 Ventura and ELAC an OT triumph over #12 Cypress. 

On the other side, Long Beach City (10-8) has established itself as the favorite in the South Division after crossover victories over both PCC and East LA. But again to show the strength of the North, the Vikings also have a remarkable three losses v. Mt. SAC and an early-season defeat against Rio Hondo. 

The current state RPI bears out the gap between the two divisions. In the North, Mt. SAC is #9, ELAC #15, Trade Tech #19, Pasadena #22, and Rio Hondo #23. In the South, Long Beach is #26 and the next highest RPI team is 5-12 El Camino at #45, followed by #47 Cerritos (7-11), #59 Compton (8-10), #69 LA Harbor (9-9) and #72 LA Southwest (8-10). 

In team statistics, Trade Tech is #9 in state scoring at 76.8 points a game while defensively Mt. SAC is #6 (51.5 points allowed average) and PCC #10 (53.1). Rio Hondo is #3 in steals average (16.4) and Pasadena is #7 at 14.4 takeaways. 

Individually, the SCC is well represented in the state leaders. LBCC's Donavion Huskey is the South Coast's top scorer and #5 in state scoring at 22.4 points while LATT's Janaiah Perkins-Jackson is #9 at 19.9 points average. Four of the top five in rebounding come from SCC teams in state leader Huskey (19.3 boards per game), PCC's Dariel Johnson at #3 (15.3), Compton's Niea Ulmer #4 (15.1), and LA Harbor's Brion Turner #5 (13.7). Two others in the top 10 are Long Beach's Ivori Scott (12.7) and LA Southwest's Mercedes Ofoegbu (12.7). 

Johnson is #2 in blocked shot average (3.3), followed by Scott at #4 (3.2) and Turner #5 (3.1 stuffs). Four of the top 10 in steals are conference players in Compton's Andranae Powns #2 (4.5 per game), the Lancers' Cosette Balmy #5 (4.2), Huskey #9 (3.7) and Rio Hondo's Amanda Lee #10 (3.7). Four of the top 10 free throw makers are SCC talents in the Vikings' Isabel Lizarraga #5 in made shots (96), Huskey #7 (95), the Huskies' Delilah Kimble-Gray #9 (90) and Turner #10 (82). Trade Tech's Machari Johnson is tied for third in state 3-point baskets made with 65.