The Irvine Valley women's basketball team finished 1-2 in the Tommy Arellano North-South Challenge over the weekend.
It was one of the toughest tournaments in the state this season with top-ranked teams from So. Cal. and No. Cal. competing.
No. 3 San Joaquin Delta, No. 4 Palomar, No. 5 Mt. San Antonio, No. 7 Moorpark, No. 9 Irvine Valley and No. 12 Chabot took part in the event.
Irvine Valley had a rough go in its opening game this past Thursday, losing to Mt. SAC, 73-32.
IVC shot just 25.5 percent from the field in the game as a team and was out-rebounded, 46-28.
Sophomore guard Emily Freeman and sophomore post player Daphne Rudis each scored five points for the Lasers.
IVC bounced back and played much better on Friday against Delta. The Lasers hung tough before falling, 56-53.
The Lasers held Delta to just 35.0 percent shooting from the field. Sophomore wing Christen Ziska had a big game for IVC with 22 points, four rebounds, two assists and two steals.
And sophomore post player Makena Tomlinson added 13 points and 11 rebounds.
Irvine Valley tied the game at 52 with 3:48 to play on a three-pointer by Ziska.
And Tomlinson tied the game at 53 with a free throw with 2:06 left.
But Delta scored the final three points of the game.
On Saturday, Irvine Valley out-scored Chabot, 19-15, in the fourth quarter to come away with a win.
The game was tied at 48 with 3:04 to play, but freshman guard Moka Saiki sank a three-pointer with with 2:25 to play to put the Lasers up for good.
Tomlinson then made a layup 30 seconds later to push IVC's lead to five points and the squad held on from there.
Tomlinson finished with 12 points and 11 rebounds, Ziska had 12 points, eight rebounds and two assists and sophomore forward Ella Will chipped in 10 points and four rebounds and Saiki had eight points for the Lasers.
IVC plays again in the Ventura Tournament Dec. 29-30.
