Orange Coast College

Women's Basketball: Pirates slip past Gauchos in double-overtime

Friday, January 25, 2008

COSTA MESA -- After being held to just six points on 2-of-11 shooting in the first half, OCC standout Courtney Ford just kept playing and the shots began to fall. The sophomore guard finished with a career-high 34 points to lead the Pirates past visiting Saddleback in double-overtime, 77-74, on Friday night at the Peterson Gym.

Using just about every shot ever invented in the game of basketball, Ford worked, wiggled and angled her way in, over and around a Gauchos' defense whose primary focus was stopping her. She also finished with a game-high 14 rebounds.

Brittany Taylor added 12 points and six rebounds, while Simone Ibbotson chipped in 10 points for the Pirates (20-3, 4-1 in the Orange Empire Conference).

Cassie Klockgether, Joy Mason and Rekeshia Jones each had 16 points and Justin Chacon wasn't far behind with 15 points for the Gauchos (16-6, 3-3). Jones also notched 13 rebounds, while Klockgether added seven boards and seven assists.

It was a battle between two of the top teams in Southern California and unlike their first meeting -- a 73-49 rout for the Pirates on Dec. 16 -- this one lived up to the hype.

After a tightly-contested first half, the Gauchos took the first significant lead of the game with a 13-0 run early in the second half to lead, 43-32 with 13:00 remaining.

But the Pirates, ranked fifth in Southern California and 10th in the state, battled back by going on an 18-4 run over the next 4:20 to regain the lead, 50-47. Ford carried the load in that comeback spurt, ripping off 10 of the team's 18 points in that span.

Both teams traded punches down the stretch. Trailing by a point, Marissa Douglass drained a 3-pointer with 25 seconds left to give Saddleback a 60-58 lead, but Ford would get the equalizer as she split the defense, found a small opening and hit an off-balance 4-footer in the final seconds of regulation to force overtime.

Again, Saddleback held a two-point advantage with just over a minute left in the first overtime, but Ford, who finished the game 12-of-13 from the free-throw line, buried a pair from the charity stripe with 1:07 left to tie the game. Both teams could not find the scoreboard the rest of the way and the game headed into a second OT period.

A Fort three-point play opened the second OT, but Saddleback answered back with baskets from Klockgether and Jones to regain a one-point lead with 3:30 left.

But Klockgether picked up her fifth foul shortly thereafter, taking her out of the game and taking the Gauchos out of their game. Meanwhile, the Pirates responded with a pair of Ibbotson free throws, a Taylor bucket and a Ford jumper for a 6-0 run, giving the Pirates a 77-72 lead with 48 seconds left.

Saddleback would add a pair of free throws from Chacon, but it wasn't enough.

For those who missed Friday's game, never fear. The same two teams go at it again on Feb. 20 at Saddleback College, beginning at 5:30 p.m.

The Pirates will make up their missed game with Riverside this Monday night (7:30 p.m.) before playing at Santa Ana on Wednesday (5:30 p.m.). They return to the Peterson Gym on Friday against Irvine Valley (5:30 p.m.) in the second round of OEC play.