LBCC downs Pasadena in CCCAA regional semifinal

Long Beach avenged two early season losses to Pasadena, defeating the Lancers 64-62 on the road Wednesday night in a thrilling third-round game of the CCCAA Regional semifinals.

Pasadena missed a free throw with 1.2 seconds left in the game that would have tied it, moments after the Vikings' Shakeena Benton, who led the team with 27 points, hit two huge free throws to put Long Beach up 63-60 with 12.4 seconds left. Benton also scored the final free throw of the night with 0.6 seconds left.

"I talked to our kids about playing with no fear, about playing with courage. In the second half, we went back to who we are and that's a full-court, man-to-man pressure team," said Long Beach head coach Michael Anderson. "We changed the whole tempo of the game and made the plays we needed to win."

Those plays came from Benton, who put the Vikings on her back in the second half with 18 points, as Long Beach trailed by 10 points at the break.

After Pasadena scored the half's opening basket, Benton took over, scoring six straight points. After Benton drained a 3-pointer to make it a one-point game, Crystal Cockerhan (12 points) scored to make it 44-43, the Vikings' first lead since the game was 10-9. 

The Vikings' defense also clamped down on the Pasadena offense in the second half, limiting the Lancers to just 12 points in the first 15 minutes.

But Pasadena did manage to take a four point lead with 3:30 left, which Benton responded to with a jumper and teammate Jasmine Williams (eight points) sunk two free throws to tie the game.

In the first half, the Vikings rushed out to a 10-5 lead keyed by a 3-pointer by Benton. But Pasadena went on its best run of the half, scoring 15 straight points over nearly five minutes of play. South Coast Conference MVP Abbey Goodsell (11 points) halted the run for Pasadena, hitting a 3-pointer with 8:20 left in the half.

Minutes later, the freshman drained another three, setting off an 8-0 run for the Vikings, cutting the lead to six. Benton scored on a layup in the final seconds to send the Vikings into the half down 41-31.

The Vikings will play at Ventura in the SoCal Regional Final on Saturday. The winner will advance to the State Championship.