Four SCC Squads Make State Top 25 As Women's Basketball In Full Swing
Four South Coast Conference teams were part of this week's State Top 25 Women's Basketball Coaches Poll topped by Mt. San Antonio at a #5 rating with conference teams all participating in tournament play.
The Mounties, the 3-time defending SCC North Division champions, were followed by #14 Long Beach City, also a 3-time defending champ from the South Division.
Pasadena City, currently #20, and #21 East Los Angeles also have had solid starts to the 2023-2024 season. Both will try to challenge Mt. SAC in the North.
Mt. SAC is 8-2, beating Long Beach, 60-59, in the semifinals of the LA Valley Buddy All-Star Classic, then defeating the host Monarchs, 78-50, for the tourney title. The Mounties' Isabella Roderick was named MVP after scoring 34 points, grabbing 25 rebounds and blocking six shots in three games.
The Mounties took third at the Tom Gilcrest Sequoias Tournament after winning their Mt. SAC Tip-Off Classic, handing current #1-ranked Butte a 65-62 defeat on Nov. 6 as Dailani Richardson was MVP of that event. Richardson, the SCC North Freshman of the Year last season, leads the team at 16 points per game (fifth in state free throw shooting at 85.1 percent) while Daisia Mitchell is another top performer, averaging 15.1 points and 9.7 rebounds per contest.
Mt. SAC advanced to the 3C2A State Championships last season, losing in the quarterfinals, and is shooting to make a return visit in March as the Mounties happen to host the 2024 state tourney.
LBCC (7-6) has played a tough pre-conference schedule, including victories over #11 Irvine Valley, #12 CC San Francisco, #16 Mt. San Jacinto, and #22 Ventura. The Vikings losses are all high quality with two defeats each v. #5 Mt. SAC and #6 Moorpark and against #2 Palomar and #9 Glendale.
Brillana Boyd leads Long Beach in scoring at a 15.6 points average while Kimberly Cruz-Martinez is solid running the team's offense at 9.9 points, 4.4 assists and 3.2 steals averages.
PCC (9-2) went 3-0 at the Santa Ana Round-Robin Tournament with Lamia Daley (team scoring leader at 18.2 points per contest) earning MVP honors and the Lancers placed second at the Riverside Earning Our Stripes Tournament. The team is paced by Antuanae Garrett, MVP of the recent PCC-Grand Canyon Crossover. Garrett is averaging 14.8 points while ninth in the state in assists (5.2) and seventh in steals (4.1).
ELAC (5-5) has transfer sophomore Guadalupe Vazquez, the state scoring leader and SCC North MVP two seasons ago while at Pasadena. Vazquez currently is third in the state in scoring (25.4 points), sixth in free throw shooting (84.6 percent) and is better than 50 percent on 3-point shooting (53.3 percent, 30 treys).
Rio Hondo (3-11) has a high scorer in Miranda Morales, 15th in the state in scoring at 20.6 points and tied for fourth in overall 3-pointers with 40. LA Trade Tech (1-10) rounds out the SCC North, led by #7 state top scorer (22.8 points) in Diara McBroom.
After Long Beach, the SCC South has several teams looking to improve, starting with LA Harbor (3-8), highlighted by conference rebound leader Samantha Ballantyne (13 boards average). Cerritos (2-9) has SCC South Freshman of the Year from last season in leading scorer Damarie Saldivar (12.2 ppg) while El Camino (1-6) has a solid post player in Imani Taitt-Gibbs, averaging 8.3 points and 12.3 rebounds.
LA Southwest (1-5) has a gem in Brooklyn McCary, who scored 48 points and grabbed 30 rebounds over two games at the Moorpark Tournament while Compton (1-7) is paced by Sierra Crook, averaging 7.3 points and 12.3 rebounds
SCC division crossover play begins in January with the conference-counting schedules starting on Jan. 24.