Taller Canyons Comes Up Short

VALENCIA —  Cerritos College gave College of the Canyons a painful lesson in rebounding and defeated the Cougars, 77-72, on Saturday night in a Southern California women’s basketball playoff bracket final at Canyons.

Cerritos (28-5) doesn’t have a player taller than 5-11, but the Falcons outrebounded the taller Cougars, 49-38.

That might have made the difference in a game that was close most of the way.

The Falcons, who advanced to the state championships for the third time in four seasons, took the lead for good, 60-58, on a layup by Tori Stewart with 7:13 remaining.

Cerritos increased the lead to seven points down the stretch.

The Cougars (26-7) were led by Vonetta Lanier, who scored 22 points despite playing with an ankle injury.

Siosi Tuli had 14 points and eight rebounds, and Rasheeda Gray 14 points. Canyons made only one of 16 three-point shots.

Monet Andrews finished with 22 points and Nicole Bryant had 19 points and 10 rebounds for Cerritos.

“We played good defense and then we didn’t rebound,” Canyons Coach Greg Herrick said. “I just don’t think we rebounded like we had to.”

Kristie Umemoto, the top outside shooter for the Cougars, made only one of nine three-point shots and finished with five points.

Herrick gave most of the credit to the Falcons.

“We just made too many mistakes in a close game against a good team,” Herrick said. “They’re a great team. Who knows? They could go all the way.”