Irvine Valley's women's basketball team defeated Cerritos in the second round of the Southern California Regional Playoffs for the second year in a row.
The Lasers, seeded fifth in the playoffs, did it in convincing fashion Friday night at home, jumping out to a big lead early and coming away with a 64-49 win.
The win lifted the Lasers' record to 22-7 overall and moved them on to the third round of the playoffs next Wednesday night. IVC will play the winner of Saturday's Long Beach City and Riverside game.
If No. 4 Long Beach City wins then the Lasers will be at Long Beach next Wednesday and if No. 13 Riverside can pull off the upset, IVC will be home on Wednesday.
Irvine Valley went on a 9-2 run to open the game against Cerritos on Friday night and really never looked back after that.
Sophomore guard Patricia Tidwell-McClure and sophomore forward Morgan Bryant made layups and after Allyson O'Brien scored Cerritos first two points, Tidwell-McClure sank a three-pointer and Casey made a layup to give IVC the 9-2 lead with 6:57 left in the opening quarter.
Cerritos closed to within 9-7 after a layup by O'Brien and then a three-pointer by O'Brien, but the Lasers then closed out the quarter by scoring 14 of the final 16 points.
McClure and sophomore guard Tara Casey made back-to-back three-pointers and McClure made a jumper to give Irvine Valley a 17-9 lead with 3:49 left in the quarter.
Freshman forward Kydell Pearson finished the scoring in the quarter for IVC with a pair of free throws with a little over a minute left.
IVC was up, 23-9, heading into the second period.
The Falcons didn't score for the final 4:25 of the first quarter.
Tidwell-McClure ended the first quarter with 10 points and three rebounds for the Lasers.
Irvine Valley started the second quarter on a 6-2 run, capped by a layup by sophomore guard Jordan Coleman to give the team a 31-11 advantage with 4:47 left in the half.
The lead was up to 25 points (40-15) after two free throws by Casey with a minute left in the half.
The Lasers took a 42-18 lead into the break.
Irvine Valley shot 47.2 percent (17 of 36) in the opening half, while Cerritos shot just 19.4 percent (7 of 36). The Falcons were 1 of 17 from three-point range.
The game was over.
Irvine Valley took its largest lead of the game at 44-18 just 10 seconds into the third quarter on freshman forward Kasey Smit's basket.
The Lasers led, 56-31, heading into the fourth quarter.
Cerritos out-scored Irvine Valley, 18-8, in the final period.
The Falcons ended up shooting 25.3 percent (20 of 79) for the game, including just 16.2 percent (6 of 37) on three-pointers.
Irvine Valley had three players score in double figures and had six players with at least five points.
Bryant finished with 15 points and seven rebounds, Casey had 13 points, five rebounds and six steals and Tidwell-McClure finished with 11 points and six rebounds.
Sophomore forward De'Jerre Scurry had a nice game with seven points, seven rebounds and six blocked shots. Coleman had six points and five assists for the Lasers.
Cerritos, which finished second in the South Coast Conference South Division and finished with a record of 20-11 overall, got 18 points and four steals from O'Brien, 10 points from Clarissa Hernandez and nine points and five rebounds from Verenice Gomez.
