The Long Beach City College women’s basketball team suffered a 55-35 non-conference loss to visiting College of Canyons on Tuesday night at the Hall of Champions Gym.
 
The Vikings (1-8) came out playing tough from the opening whistle. Long Beach sank its first five field goal attempts and thanks to some excellent defense held a 13-5 lead at the 12-minute mark.  But a three-pointer by Canyons’ Samantha Cross with 10:52 to go in the first halted LBCC’s scoring run and got the Cougars back on track. Canyons went up 14-13 before the Vikings took their final lead of 18-14 with six minutes left.
 
From then it was all Canyons, as the Cougars closed out the first half on a 19-1 run and never looked back.
 
Sophomore forward Cristina Lajkowicz led LBCC with 15 points and eight rebounds. Freshman forward Karyse Payne chipped in with seven rebounds and four points.
 
For Canyons, forward Ashley Wakefield posted a double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds and guard Brittney Bradley added 11 points.
 
Long Beach returns to action on Thursday when it will compete at the three-day Pasadena City College tournament.

From Reports By LBCC’s Chris Ruiz