Orange Coast College

Women's Basketball: Pirates upset by San Bernardino Valley

Friday, February 23, 2007

COSTA MESA - The Orange Coast College women's basketball team created a year's worth of success by out-hustling its opposition.

On Friday, the Pirates were given a taste of their own medicine as San Bernardino Valley pulled off a 61-59 shocker at the Peterson Gym in the Southern California Regional Playoffs.

"It just wasn't our night," OCC head coach Mike Thornton said. "They (San Bernardino Valley) completely dominated us on the boards and we weren't able to get into any kind of rhythm offensively."

The Wolverines (20-9), winners of just four games all of last year, advances to the Regional Finals and will face the winner of Fullerton and Santa Barbara on the road on March 3. They did all of the little things to win, including holding an edge in rebounds (54-39), assists (15-14), fewer turnovers (14-16) and steals (9-4).

Simeone Baker led the Wolverines with 14 points and 12 rebounds, Ronisha Edwards added 12 points and Jasmine Marshall tossed in 11 points and seven rebounds.

The Pirates (28-4), who were held under 70 points just four times all season prior to Friday's game, shot 19-of-54 from the field (35.2 percent) and 2-of-14 from 3-point range (14.3 percent) as SBVC's defense rose to the challenge of containing the state's No. 2-ranked offense (81.8 points per game).

Courtney Ford led the Pirates with 21 points, but the rest of her teammates combined for just 38 on 12-of-41 shooting (29.2 percent).

"It's extremely disappointing because this team came into the playoffs with the best regular season and it wasn't a fluke," Thornton said. "A couple of our key players got into foul trouble and we had some players not feeling well, but we're not looking for excuses."

Both teams came out tight offensively and points were hard to come by, which played right into the Wolverines' style. OCC held a 27-26 lead at the half despite shooting 31.3 percent and getting outrebounded 35-20 (13-3 on the offensive glass).

Ford got the offense going early in the second half as the Pirates hit their biggest lead of the night (31-26).

The turning point of the game came with 6:18 left in the game. Trailing 50-47, Baker hit a jumper to pull the Wolverines to within one at 50-49. Then, after a Pirate turnover, Baker was fouled, hit her first free throw, grabbed a rebound off her own missed free throw and scored again to give SBVC a 52-50 lead.

A Shy Walter basket and La'Quita' Jordan free throw capped off the 8-0 run and gave the Wolverines the lead for good.

Ford kept the Pirates close and trailing by two with 30 seconds left, she had a couple of chances to tie the game, but the aggressive Wolverines' defense forced two awkward shots and SBVC maintained its advantage.

OCC was forced to foul with six seconds and had another opportunity with a pair of missed free throws by the Wolverines, but Ronisha Edwards picked up their 22nd offensive rebound and ran out the rest of the clock.