Second-Half Rally Lifts Long Beach to 6th Straight SCC Women's Water Polo Crown

Cerritos College was poised and played as hard as it could on Saturday in an attempt to end the reign of power set by Long Beach City College. The Falcons took a 4-2 halftime lead, but the Vikings battled back with two fourth-quarter goals as LBCC won its sixth consecutive South Coast Conference title, defeating Cerritos, 6-4, in the championship final of the SCC Tournament held Nov. 5-6 at Mt. San Antonio College.

Long Beach (21-8) extended its conference winning streak to 55 games going back to the 2015 season. Leading the comeback was Rachel Westphal, who scored four goals and added an assist. Westphal also was the hero of the 2019 final when she scored five goals in that year's title match. Kaya Barrett, who had the other two Long Beach goals, scored the game-winner at 4:46 left in the game. 

Cerritos (20-7) took a 2-1 first-period lead on a pair of 5-meter penalty shot goals, one by 2019 All-American Mia Carbajal and the other by her older sister Melodie Carbajal, who played a strong defensive game with four steals. 

Long Beach goalie Haden Bates made six saves and allowed only two even-strength goals. Cerritos goalie Leslie Meza also was sharp with six saves. 

LBCC earned the #4 seed, Cerritos the #6 seed, and Mt. San Antonio (12-17) the #12 slot in the Southern California Championships Nov. 11-13 at Southwestern College. Southern California Championships Bracket

Third Place Final-Mt. San Antonio 10, El Camino 1: A low-scoring first half saw the Mounties take a 2-0 lead, but in the fourth quarter they poured it on with six goals, two each by Julia Bensing-Ruiz (three overall) and Alexandra Allen, who finished with a game-high five goals (and four steals). El Camino's lone goal was by Kirby Clark. Mt. SAC goalie Jahanna Palmer made 10 saves while ECC netminder Sophia Caravello had nine stops. 

Fifth Place Final-Chaffey 12, Pasadena 10: Cecilia Mari broke the game's sixth tie with 3:02 left and added an insurance goal to lift the Panthers to fifth place in conference. Mari finished with five goals and two assists while Clarissa Banuelos added five goals and five steals. Chaffey goalie Kailey Ortega made 10 saves while Lancers goalie Daniela Dockendorf-Cani had seven blocks, four in the fourth quarter alone. Marley Courtney led PCC with four goals.  

Seventh Place Final-Rio Hondo 13, East Los Angeles 3: SCC leading-scorer June Babishoff scored six goals and contributed four assists and Amera Elsayed added five goals and three steals in the rout over the Huskies. The Roadrunners rarely missed on shooting attempts, converting 52 percent of the shots into the ELAC goal. Melanie Estrada led East LA with two goals. RHC goalie Valentina Orozco stopped 14 ELAC shots. 

SCC Tournament 
Friday, Nov. 5
First Round Scores
Mt. San Antonio 17, Rio Hondo 7
Cerritos 25, Chaffey 10
Long Beach 16, East Los Angeles 2
El Camino 12, Pasadena 3
Second Round Scores
Chaffey 14, Rio Hondo 13 (OT)
Cerritos 14, Mt. San Antonio 6
Pasadena 18, East Los Angeles 7
Long Beach 18, El Camino 1