Orange Coast College

Women's Basketball: Built Ford Tough -- OCC slips past Gauchos in OT

Thursday, February 15, 2007

MISSION VIEJO - It took OVER 40 minutes for the Orange Coast College women's basketball team to get its first lead on Wednesday against Saddleback. The extra time came courtesy of Pirate standout Courtney Ford, who hit a game-tying 3-pointer at the end of regulation and provided enough magic for OCC to escape with a 70-65 overtime win against the Gauchos.

Ford (pictured left), who recently was named the Commission on Athletics Female Athlete of the Month for January, scored 29 points and grabbed 14 rebounds as the Pirates (27-3, 13-0) maintained their perfect record in the Orange Empire Conference.

Trailing by three (59-56) with 10.9 seconds remaining, OCC withstood a furious Gaucho defense and found Ford outside the 3-point arc. The freshman let it go and banked in the shot at the buzzer, forcing overtime.

From there, Ford drained another trey in overtime as the Pirates found enough gas in the tank out distance themselves from the Gauchos (20-8, 8-5).

Brittany Taylor added 14 points and eight rebounds, while point guard Rachael Maulit added nine points and seven steals for the Pirates.

Rekeshia Jones played a solid game for Saddleback with 19 points, 14 rebounds, six assists and five blocks. Her strong play enabled the Gauchos to control the game from the opening whistle as they held a 33-22 lead at the half. It was the lowest-scoring first half all season for the Pirates, who hit just 10-of-33 from the field in the game's opening 20 minutes.

Stuck in foul trouble for most of the game, Ford was held to just four points in the first half. But as she began to heat up, so did the Pirates, who slowly crept back into the game by going 16-of-29 from the field in the second half (55.2 percent).

Saddleback still led by six with just over 3 minutes to play before Ford and the Pirates battled back to a 56-56 tie.

Thanks to three made free throws down the stretch, Saddleback grabbed a 59-56 lead before Ford's buzzer-beater turned the tides for good.

OCC will wrap up the regular season at home on Friday against Riverside at 5:30 p.m. A win would give the Pirates their first-ever undefeated trip through the conference schedule. An announcement on playoff pairings, locations and dates will be announced on Monday.