Orange Coast College

Women's Basketball: Pirates hand Hornets first conference loss

Friday, February 13, 2009

COSTA MESA -- It was "Sophomore Night" inside the Peterson Gym for the Orange Coast College women's basketball team on Friday night.

For Fullerton College, it was simply Friday, the 13th.

Led by 19 points from sophomore Casey Gomez, the Pirates handed the visiting Hornets their first Orange Empire Conference loss with a 56-49 win.

Kathy Trujillo led the conference-leading Hornets with 10 points as the OCC defense held Fullerton (22-8, 9-1 in OEC) to just 30 percent from the floor (16-for-54).

An early run midway through the first half gave the Pirates (20-9, 7-3) a 19-9 lead and the hosts never lost the lead the rest of the game.

The lead grew to as many as 13 (41-28) before Fullerton would get to within seven (47-40) with 3:20 left in the game.

But a basket by Chelsea Alfafara (eight points) and a pair of free throws by Anna Simmons (six points) helped push the lead back over double digits and the Pirates never looked back.

The key to OCC's victory was offensive support from its supporting cast. In addition to Alfafara and Simmons, Samantha Harrell added six points and five rebounds and Melissa Mahi added five points.

Despite a slow offensive night from leading scorer Simone Ibbotson (six points), she managed to help in other areas with six rebounds, three assists, three blocks and a pair of steals.

The win wraps up the regular season home schedule for the Pirates. They finish at Riverside on Wednesday and at Santa Ana on Friday. Both games are scheduled to tip off at 7:30 p.m.