Orange Coast College

Women's Basketball: Shorthanded Pirates eliminated by Antelope Valley

Saturday, March 01, 2008

COSTA MESA -- Apparently, "March Madness" reaches the community college level as well.

The shorthanded and top-seeded Orange Coast College Pirates were upset in the second round of the Southern California Regional Playoffs by 17th seed Antelope Valley, 73-63, on Saturday night at OCC's Peterson Gym.

Already without the services of power forward Sarah Schmidt (broken foot), the Pirates (29-4) played Saturday's game without point guard and floor leader Rachael Maulit, who was sidelined with Mononucleosis.

Playing just seven deep, the Pirates simply ran out of gas against a deeper and taller Marauder squad, who ran out 13 players through a dizzying series of hockey-like shifts.

"Before the seedings came out, I said that one of the teams I didn't want to face was Antelope Valley," OCC head coach Mike Thornton said. "I also said before the season that we could not afford to lose either Courtney Ford or Rachael Maulit and we unfortunately lost Rae at playoff time."

Ford, who played her last game as a Pirate on Saturday, led OCC with 27 points and eight rebounds. Simone Ibbotson added 13 points and six rebounds, while Casey Gomez added 10 points and four rebounds.

The Marauders (21-13) set the tone for the game in the opening possession. With the shot clock running down and the ball rolling toward halfcourt, guard Shakira Autry retrieved the ball and heaved a 42-footer that hit nothing but the bottom of the net, sending the AVC fans into a frenzy.

"That really set the tone for the game," Thornton said. "We had great defense, forced them into a nearly impossible shot and it goes in. We had them shooting four different shot-clock buzzer-beaters and they made all of them. What can you do?"

Autry led AVC with 22 points, but left the game in the second half with what was later diagnosed as a separated elbow after landing awkwardly on her arm on defense.

Carleigh Hobson added 15 points and five assists, while Tracy Wittebolle added 10 points and five rebounds for AVC.

While the field goals and free throws were pretty even, the biggest gap came from 3-point range, where the Marauders hit 9-of-21 from beyond the arc, led by Autry, who hit five of her six attempts.

Trailing 37-31 at the half, OCC was sparked by a 12-5 run over the opening 2:40 of the second half to take a 43-42 lead. A pair of Ibbotson 3-pointers capped off the run and gave the Pirates their first lead of the game.

Unfortunately for the Pirates, that would be their last lead of the night as AVC responded with a 9-0 run to regain the advantage, 51-43 with 14:30 left.

The Marauders put a defense on the Pirates that forced the guards into working the entire length of the floor and that hard work began to wear down Coast as AVC threw wave after wave of five-woman squads at them.

Each OCC run was quickly answered with an AVC outburst. The Pirates cut the lead to 51-50 with 11:05 left before a Hobson trey and a jumper from Wittebolle pushed the lead back up to six with 9:30 remaining.

Again, Ford and the Pirates would respond. The Mercer University-bound sophomore scored Coast's final 12 points of the game, but it wasn't enough.

OCC got within three at 66-63 with 2:00 left, but the Pirates went scoreless the rest of the way as several late shots fell short of their intended targets due to fatigue.

Despite the early departure from the playoffs for the second straight year, the sophomore class definitely left their impression on the history of the women's basketball program. Sophomores Erin Barney, Lee Wang, Brittany Taylor, Kissee, Ford, Schmidt and Maulit finished up their OCC career with an overall record of 57-8, 27-1 in the Orange Empire Conference.

"This group will never be forgotten," Thornton said. "The relationships they made with each other here at Coast will last them a lifetime. It's truly been an honor to coach them the past two seasons."