Orange Coast College

Women's Basketball: Pirates roll past Cuesta in Coast Christmas Classic opener

Friday, December 14, 2007

COSTA MESA - For the Orange Coast College women's basketball team, Friday's 68-50 win over Cuesta in the opening round of the Coast Christmas Classic was a simple matter of "quantity over quality".

The Pirates, thanks to a defense that harassed the Cougars into 29 turnovers, limited the number of shots taken by the Cougars (43) and, despite shooting just 37.7 percent from the field, they managed to win by 18 points thanks to 61 OCC shot attempts (31 3-point attempts).

In fact, only two OCC players -- Courtney Ford and Brittany Taylor -- had decent shooting nights. Ford (pictured left) led all scores with 25 points on 9-of-14 shooting and added nine rebounds and five steals to her statline. Taylor (pictured below) was efficient in her shooting, collecting 10 points on 4-of-7 shooting with four rebounds, three assists and two steals.

The rest of the Pirates combined for 10-of-40 shooting (25 percent).

While it wasn't pretty, it was efficient enough to give Coast its nine win in a row and its 12th in 13 games this year.

For the visiting Cougars (10-3), it was a valiant effort considering they were without three starters and a couple of reserves due to injury. Kelly Blair led the way with 18 points and 15 rebounds, while Katrina Torres added 13 points and Sarah Briasco contributed 10 points.

With the win, OCC will take on Cerritos on Saturday in the championship semifinals, while Cuesta heads to the consolation bracket where it will face Chaffey.

In other Coast Christmas Classic action ...

Cerritos 71, Chaffey 61 (OT) -- In the closest game of the opening round, the Falcons and Panthers went back and fourth the entire way, with neither team holding lead larger than seven until the overtime period.

With under two minutes left in regulation and Chaffey (10-3) holding a 54-53 lead, Maltresa Neely nailed a 3-pointer to give Cerritos (8-4) a 56-54 advantage, but the Cougars answered right back with a trey from Tamesha Jackson to make it 57-56.

With 25 seconds left, Cerritos' Arielle McClellan made 1-of-2 from the free-throw line, sending the game into OT, where it was all Falcons in the extra session.

After Chaffey took an early one-point lead in the OT, Cerritos proceeded to rip off the next 14 points to take the lead for good.

College of the Canyons 87, El Camino 42 -- An ice-cold shooting streak did in the El Camino Warriors as the Canyons Cougars ended the first half with a 20-3 run to take a 44-18 lead and they never looked back.

Kelly O'Linn led the Cougars (6-3) with 28 points, five rebounds and six assists, while Andrea Bobic added 16 points and grabbed 10 rebounds. Charity Smith wasn't far behind with 14 points and eight rebounds for Cuesta.

El Camino (3-8) was led by Jessica Echenique with 18 points and Brittney Groves with 14 points. Alisha Hill was a point away from a double-double after posting nine points and 11 rebounds.

Saddleback 77, Southwestern 57 -- In the opening game of the tournament, the Gauchos (8-0) maintained their undefeated record with a convincing win over the Jaguars (1-8).

Cassie Klockgether led the Gauchos with 22 points and six assists, while Joy Mason added 17 points and grabbed 10 rebounds. Justine Chacon and Alexis Coble contributed nine points apiece.

For the Jaguars, Chelsea Jugo and Trecia Owens each had 14 points. Trisha Lagpacan tossed in 13 points and grabbed 13 rebounds, while Mercedes Griffis added 10 points and seven rebounds.