Orange Coast College

Women's Basketball: Pirates wrap up perfect OEC run by taming Tigers

Saturday, February 17, 2007

COSTA MESA - The Orange Coast College women's basketball team made sure that there would be no dramatics this time.

After surviving against Saddleback in overtime on Wednesday, the Pirates jumped out to a big lead early, then cruised to an 88-69 win over Riverside to wrap up the team's first-ever perfect run through the Orange Empire Conference.

Courtney Ford led the No. 4 Pirates (28-3, 14-0) with 28 points and nine rebounds, while Devin Hundley added 13 points. Katie Kissee (pictured left) chipped in 11 points and Brittany taylor tossed in 10 points for the Pirates, winners of 17 straight and 16 of their last 27 games.

OCC will earn a first-round bye in the playoffs and will host the second-round contest either next Friday or Saturday, depending on this weekend's playoff pairings announcement.

Ford helped get the Pirates out of the gates strong early on, scoring 18 of her 28 points in the game's first 10 minutes as OCC jumped out to a 20-point lead with eight minutes left in first half.

The lead was 23 at the half and grew to nearly 40 in the second half before the Tigers (11-20, 5-9) cut into the deficit during the game's final minutes. Taneika Calhoun led Riverside with 16 points and 14 rebounds.