With a strong defensive effort, the Irvine Valley's women's basketball team reached the Southern California Regional Finals for the second year in a row on Wednesday night.
The Lasers, seeded fifth, knocked off fourth-seeded Long Beach City, 45-39, in Long Beach.
Irvine Valley held Long Beach City to a season low for points in a game.
The Vikings also shot just 25.9 percent (14 of 54) from the field as a team and 9.1 percent (1 of 11) from three-point range.
The Lasers also out-rebounded Long Beach City, 40-32.
"It was a great all-around team effort," IVC coach Julie Hanks said. "The girls played so tough. They were ready."
Irvine Valley led, 11-10, after the first quarter.
Scoring then got scarce for the teams for the next two periods.
Irvine Valley was up, 17-12, with 7:18 mark in the second quarter, but Long Beach City scored the final seven points of the half to take a 19-17 lead into the break.
The Vikings and Lasers combined for 28 points over the second and third quarters as IVC held a narrow 26-23 advantage heading into the final period.
In the fourth quarter, Long Beach City's Sopavy Seng made a pair of free throws to tie up the game at 29-29 with 7:38 to play.
But Irvine Valley took control after that. IVC went on a 9-3 run to take a 38-32 advantage.
The Lasers got two free throws from sophomore guard Jordan Coleman and a three-pointer by freshman forward Kasey Smit off an assist by Coleman to take a 34-29 lead with 6:18 to play.
A layup by Coleman put IVC ahead, 36-30, with 5:18 to go.
Two free throws by sophomore guard Erika Mercado made it a 38-32 game with 4:11 to play.
Imani Johnson hit a three-pointer with 2:18 to play to get LBCC within three at 38-35.
But Smit made a jumper to make to make it 40-35 and a three-point play by Coleman on IVC's next possession put the game away.
Irvine Valley led, 43-35 with 59 seconds left.
The Lasers secured their trip to Saturday's regional final game at No. 1 Mt. San Antonio College at 7 p.m.
Irvine Valley (23-7) got a game-high 13 points from Jordan Coleman. She was the lone player in the contest to score in double figures. Sophomore forward De'Jerre Scurry had nine points and five rebounds off the bench, Smit added seven points and eight rebounds and freshman forward Kydell Pearson added six points and seven rebounds for the Lasers.
Johnson and Taylor Smith both scored nine points to lead the Vikings, who finished the year with a record of 24-6 overall.
Irvine Valley reached the regional final last season and fell at East Los Angeles, 75-62.
The winner of Saturday's Mt. SAC-Irvine Valley game will move on to the CCCAA State Championships March 11-13 at Las Positas College in Livermore.