Defending 3C2A Women's Basketball State Champ Mt. San Antonio Poised To Repeat
After reaching the ultimate end result--a 3C2A state women's basketball championship title while doing it on its own home floor--Mt. San Antonio College is again a frontrunner to repeat in 2025-26.
The Mounties are 15-1 and ranked #1 in this week's CCCWBCA State Top 25 poll and while Pacific Coast Athletic Conference's and #6-rated MiraCosta is the lone undefeated team left in the state, it's apparent Mt. SAC is on a mission to be a repeat champion.
Head Coach Brian Crichlow's dynasty includes two sets of back-to-back state crowns, first in 2012-2013 and then again in 2016-2017. His program has captured five straight South Coast Conference North Division titles and 12 overall since 2011 and he would like nothing better to make it three back-to-back state championships in 2026.
Thus far, Mt. SAC has victories v. nine Top 25 teams, including five v. the top 8, defeating the likes of #2 Orange Coast, #4 Laney, #5 Moorpark, and #8 Cypress. The only team to solve the Mounties was #7 San Joaquin Delta, 73-72, on Dec. 4. The Mounties promptly dismantled the Mustangs in a second meeting on Dec. 20 by an 80-47 count.
The Mounties are led by returning SCC North Freshman of the Year and All-State First Team selection Taliyah McFerson, who has picked up where she left off last season in averaging 16.8 points and 10.3 rebounds per game after 16 games. Like McFerson, Elizabeth Udeze was named to the 2025 All-State Tournament Team. Udeze returns to lead the state in total assists (second in average at 6.1) to go with 11.9 ppg.
Meanwhile, Long Beach City is a 5-time defending, SCC South Division champion and the only other conference-ranked team at #25. The Vikings started out 3-6, but are back to .500 at 7-7 overall despite playing a difficult pre-conference schedule thus far. LBCC has wins over #10 City College of San Francisco, #15 Mt. San Jacinto and #21 Saddleback while all of their defeats are v. the top 25: Orange Coast (twice), Laney, #5 Moorpark, Cypress, #17 Palomar, and #23 Santa Ana.
The Vikings are paced by sophomore transfer Zoie Lamkin (14.8 ppg), an All-Orange Empire Conference First Teamer as a freshman who played v. Mt. SAC in the '25 championship game for Orange Coast. Yesenia Garcia, an All-SCC First Team choice last year, is back as well for Long Beach.
After Mt. SAC, the North has a much-improved Los Angeles Trade-Tech (12-4 after just 14 victories last season) as the Beavers were on last week's State Top 25 before dropping this week. LATT has won six of its last seven and went 3-0 v. North teams at the Cosumnes River Classic. Three of the team's four losse are v. ranked MiraCosta, Cypress and Santa Ana. LATT features state scoring leader Athieng Bol, averaging 22.3 points. Bol was an All-State Second Team player last year at Antelope Valley.
East Los Angeles (8-8) is at .500 but has played hard competition with losses to Top 25 opponents in Orange Coast, Moorpark, San Francisco, Santa Rosa, Sierra, Mt. San Jacinto, Palomar. The Huskies are led by returning All-SCC Second Teamer Moriah Mosley (14 ppg), who is the daughter of ELAC men's basketball HC John Mosley.
Another improved team in the division is Pasadena City (8-7) which has exceeded the five wins by the squad last season. PCC has losses v. Moorpark (twice), MiraCosta, and #18 Taft. Freshman Kamora Fletcher (15.9 ppg) performed a rare triple-double in win v. San Diego City as she scored 18 points, grabbed 16 rebounds, and dished out 10 assists.
Rio Hondo (7-8) has also rebounded from a 12-16 year last season as the Roadrunners have won three of their last five. RHC has defeats v. MiraCosta, #10 Irvine Valley (twice), #13 Glendale, and #16 Sequoias. The Roadrunners are led by Miranda Morales at 18.4 ppg.
In the South, Compton has turned things around under the direction of a former Long Beach HC Ollie Brent as the Coyotes are 6-7 and played #22 San Diego Mesa tough in a 56-51 defeat on Dec. 19. Compton had just two wins all of last season. The Coyotes are led by Marylou Davis, who is averaging 15 points and 7 rebounds.
Other improved teams in the South include Los Angeles Southwest, which decided to end the '24-25 season after one game, as the Cougars are 6-11. LASW has played some tough competition including defeats v. CCSF, #12 Santa Rosa, #14 Sierra, #18 Taft and Santa Ana. The Cougars are led by Rian Dillihunt at 16.9 ppg.
LA Harbor was winless last year (0-24) but the Seahawks are already 5-8 in the new season, scoring 91, then 97 in their most recent games, both wins over Merritt, then San Bernardino Valley. Andrea Lopez leads LAHC at 14.9 ppg. Rounding out the division are Cerritos (2-9), paced by SCC South Freshman of the Year Lauren Nakamura who is averaging 15.4 ppg as a sophomore, and El Camino (1-13), paced by Christiauna Taylor at 13.1 ppg.
It is highly likely that both Mt. SAC and Long Beach will stretch their SCC title streaks to six this season as conference-counting play begins in later January.
Release by Robert Lewis, SCC SID