When a team finishes as champions of their conference with only one loss, its more than likely they will be selected to compete in the playoffs.
For the El Camino women’s basketball team, the high of earning a share of the conference title, was brought down to a disappointing low when the Warriors learned they had been left out of the California Community College Athletic Association SoCal Regional playoffs.
CCCAA made the playoff selections on Feb. 20.
Freshman guard Hunter Noa said it was absolutely heartbreaking to find out after practice they did not make it to the playoffs.
“We all felt so cheated,” Noa said. “We thought we did everything in our power to make the playoffs but because of the mistakes of other people, we had to suffer the consequences.”
Coach Steve Shaw informed his team that L.A. Harbor College had to forfeit all their games due to using ineligible players during the season, according to Noa’s Twitter account.
This took away one loss for Long Beach City College, which gave the Vikings a share of the South Coast Conference-South division title with EC.
It also gave the Vikings a higher Ratings Percentage Index, which made them No. 1 in the conference and giving them a birth in the playoffs.
CCCAA did not return emails or phone sent from The Union.
“Being a sophomore, I was pretty hurt knowing my career at EC had come to an end,” sophomore forward Kourtney Noa said. “As a team, we all took it pretty hard.”
EC finished the season 15-10 overall and 9-1 in conference play. The Warriors averaged 67.8 points per game.
Freshman guard Kasey Takahashi said it was a huge disappointment because everyone worked extremely hard to earn that next part of the season.
“When we all heard the news, it didn’t sink into any of us for a couple minutes,” Takahashi said. “It was just so shocking.”