Orange Coast College

Pirates win 10th straight by taming Tigers, 74-66

Thursday, January 25, 2007

RIVERSIDE - The Orange Coast College women's basketball team earned its 10th straight win by topping Riverside 74-66 on Wednesday night, completing a perfect run through the first round of Orange Empire Conference play.

Courtney Ford (pictured left) led the Pirates (21-3, 7-0 in OEC) with 25 points, 11 rebounds, three assists and four steals. Lindsay Allen chipped in 10 points, while Brittany Taylor added nine points and 10 rebounds.

While the offense wasn't exactly clicking on all cylinders, shooting 34 percent in the first half (16-of-47), the Pirates' defense again came to the rescue as they held the Tigers (8-16, 2-5) to just 26 shot attempts in the game's first 20 minutes.

Leading 39-32 at the half, the Pirates offense again struggled to find consistency as the pesky Tigers hung around for the entire game, cutting the OCC lead to four two different times in the game's final minutes.

But OCC was able to hit its free throws down the stretch to preserve the win. The Pirates hit 14-of-16 for the game, 13-of-15 in the second half.

Riverside's Jatarra Taylor had 20 points and six assists, while Debbie Barragan added 17 points and seven rebounds.

OCC will return to action on Friday at Golden West, beginning at 7 p.m. to begin the second round of OEC action.