Bibb’s Career Night Leads Warriors to Next Round

TORRANCE, Calif. – Kayla Bibb was outstanding for El Camino College as the Warriors scored their first playoff victory since 2015 with a 60-52 win over West Los Angeles Friday night at the ECC North Gym.

Bibb, who was named the South Coast Conference, South Division Player of the Year this week, showed why as she led the Warriors (21-6) in scoring with 26 points and grabbed a career-high 22 rebounds in the victory. Bibb hit eight of the Warriors' 19 field goals and grabbed more than one-third of the team's 56 rebounds on the night. Of her 22 boards, 10 came on the offensive glass as she helped lead the Warriors in that category to a 25-6 advantage on the offensive boards.

Nao Shiota was the only other player with double figures for the Warriors as she poured in 11 points, hitting 3-of-6 from beyond the arc. Makenna Peneueta added eight points and dished out seven of the Warriors' 12 assists on the night.

Brianna Anugwom led the Wildcats with 18 points, six rebounds and four assists in the loss.

Friday's game was a rematch of an earlier contest between the teams back on Nov. 28 where the Wildcats scored a 53-49 win. That game was a struggle offensively for both teams and Friday night's game was no different as the Wildcats were held to 32.7 percent shooting and the Warriors shot just 27.1 percent on the night.

The Warriors missed 12 of their first 13 shots in the first quarter but only trailed 7-2 with 3:36 left in the period. That's when Shiota started raining threes as she hit three of her next four attempts from deep including the game-tying 3-pointer with 21 seconds left as the teams were deadlocked 11-11 after one.

The grind continued in the second quarter as the teams combined to make six shots and two free throws but the Warriors got the best of the exchange and led 21-16 at the break.

Bibb had 10 rebounds by the half to go with eight points and did not make a trip to the free-throw line after 20 minutes. That changed in the second half as she hit 10-of-15 from the charity stripe in the second half and pulled down 12 rebounds, half of those on the offensive end. The Warriors essentially won the game at the free throw line as they hit 13-of-17 from the charity stripe in the final period to secure the victory and advance to round three of the CCCAA Playoffs.

The Warriors will face the winner of the game between No. 2 seed Mount San Jacinto and No. 14 seed Pasadena City College, who face off on Saturday night. The Warriors third-round matchup will take place at Mount San Jacinto or at home against Pasadena on Saturday night, March 2.