Lady Cougs Back in Postseason, No. 18 Canyons vs. No. 15 Rio Hondo on Wednesday

By Jesse Muñoz/COC Sports Information Director

College of the Canyons women's basketball has qualified for the postseason for the 26th time in program history, and first under first year head coach John Wissmath, with a CCCAA SoCal Regional Playoff game set for Wednesday, Feb. 22 at Rio Hondo College.

No. 18 Canyons (17-10, 11-3) vs. No. 15 Rio Hondo (15-13, 4-4) will tip off at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 22. Ticket prices for the game are $12 for general admission and $8 for all identified students, faculty, staff, senior citizens age 60 and over, and children under 12 years old. Tickets at the door are cash only.

Canyons finished third in the Western State Conference (WSC), South Division standings behind conference champ Glendale College (23-5, 13-1) and runner-up L.A. Valley (20-8, 12-2). The Lady Cougars won five of its final six games down the stretch before falling at Glendale in the regular season finale.

Sophomores Monique Febles (13.8 ppg) and LuLu Salloom (13.0 ppg) have led Canyons in scoring through the 2022-23 campaign with each earning All-WSC Honors. Salloom finished second in the state with 16.4 rebounds per game and was a CCCWBCA All-State Second-Team honoree. The Saugus High School graduate also earned All-State team honors as a freshman. Canyons freshman Hannah Tolentino (10.8 ppg) was an all-conference selection after seeing her numbers soar to 13.5 ppg during conference play.

Febles and Salloom are joined by sophomores Natalie Satamian, Jazmine Washington and Natasha Surgick who were part of the Cougars' 2021-22 postseason run. 

COC played to a 6-3 road record and 3-6 mark on neutral floors, including a 66-58 tournament loss to Rio Hondo back on Dec. 21, 2022.

Rio Hondo was third in the five-team South Coast Conference (SCC), North Division after closing the season with three straight losses. The Roadrunners played to a 4-5 record on its home floor. RHC sophomore forward Rosalie Avalos (15.8 ppg) led the squad in scoring with sophomore guard Jiselle Cabrera (13.7 ppg) next.

The winner of Wednesday's game will move on to face No. 2 Palomar College (28-0, 14-0) on Saturday, Feb. 25.

The 2023 CCCAA Women's Basketball State Championship Tournament will be held March 10-12 at West Hills Lemoore College, featuring the top eight teams from the north and south regions.

Full CCCAA Women's Basketball regional brackets are available here.

Stay up to date on all this season's action by following the College of the Canyons Athletic department on social media at @COCathletics on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube. 

—Photo by Mari Kneisel/COc Sports Information