Orange Coast College

Women's Basketball: Pirates advance to tourney title game with 72-60 win over Cerritos

Saturday, December 15, 2007

COSTA MESA -- A one-sentence statement by Orange Coast College women's basketball coach Mike Thornton best summed up the performance of sophomore standout Courtney Ford.

"Is Courtney an animal or what?" he said with a smile following the Pirates' 72-60 win over Cerritos in the championship semifinals of the Coast Christmas Classic on Saturday at OCC.

With her long-range shot not hitting early, Ford (pictured left) relentlessly drove to the hoop, where she willed her way to a 24-point, 10-rebound, six-assist, four-steal performance. Some of her shots weren't pretty thanks to constant pressure and contact, but they certainly got the job done.

With the win, the Pirates (13-1), winners of 10 straight, will face fellow Orange Empire Conference resident Saddleback (9-0) in the tournament's championship game, beginning on Sunday at 3:30 p.m. at the Peterson Gym.

Katie Kissee also overcame a sluggish night from 3-point range and managed to produce 12 points, while Rachael Maulit added 10 points, five rebounds, eight assists and three steals.

OCC's forwards, Brittany Taylor and Simone Ibbotson, combined for 15 points and 11 rebounds and Casey Gomez came through with eight points and three assists off the bench.

Maltresa Neely led Cerritos (8-5) with 19 points, 10 rebounds and four assists, while Arielle McClellan added 17 points and five rebounds.

After an ice-cold first half of shooting (12-of-38, 0-for-12 from 3-point range), the Pirates used their motion offense and found success with back-cuts and drives to the basket and the effort resulted in a 60.7 percent shooting performance in the second half (17-of-28).

In other Coast Christmas Classic action ...

Saddleback 79, College of the Canyons 77 -- In the other championship semifinal contest, the Gauchos were pushed to the brink of their first loss of the season, but standout guard Cassie Klockgether would have no part of that.

The sophomore finished with 28 points, including the game-winning basket with 3 seconds left that broke a 77-77 tie. She also dished out nine assists, grabbed four rebounds and notched three steals.

Trailing most of the game, the Gauchos relied of Klockgether and sophomore center Rekeshia Jones (20 points, 11 rebounds, six blocked shots).

Down the stretch, it was all Klockgether as she scored 17 of her team's final 21 points.

Canyons (6-4) was led by Brittany Bradley's 25 points and Andrea Bobic's 21 points and eight rebounds. The Cougars will play Cerritos in the third-place game on Sunday, beginning at 1:30 p.m.

Chaffey 70, Cuesta 56 -- In one of the consolation semifinals, a near record-setting performance by Cuesta's Kelly Blair was washed away by the balanced offense of the Panthers (11-3).

Blair led all scorers with 33 points, just four points shy of the tournament's all-time, single-game record of 37, set by Alejandra Hernandez of Southwestern in 1995 and Andria Booker of San Diego Mesa in 1999. Blair also had eight rebounds, three assists and a pair of steals for Cuesta (10-4).

Four Chaffey players -- Keisha Mackall (18 points, five assists), Christina Warren (14 points), Tamesha Jackson (12 points, seven assists) and Aundira Anderson (12 points, 10 rebounds) -- reached double-figures in scoring, while teammate Johnshunay Parson wasn't too far behind with nine points and a game-high 11 rebounds.

With the win, the Panthers will take on El Camino in the consolation finals, beginning at 11:30 a.m. on Sunday at OCC.

El Camino 57, Southwestern 41 -- A pair of Warriors (4-8) led the offensive charge as Brittney Groves and Courtney Reise each scored 14 points in Saturday's consolation semifinal matchup against the Jaguars (1-9).

Alisha Hill added 11 points and 16 rebounds, while Jessica Echenique added 10 points for ECC.

Trecia Owens led Southwestern with 13 points and eight rebounds, while Chelsea Jugo added 11 points, but another cold-shooting performance by the Jags (15-of-67) did them in.