Women’s Basketball: Pirates hold off Gauchos

MISSION VIEJO — It’s never too late to maximize potential.

The Orange Coast College women’s basketball team has only one game remaining, but it takes a two-game winning streak into that contest Friday after holding on for a 74-70 triumph over Saddleback on Wednesday.

The victory upped the Pirates’ record to 5-20, 2-9 in conference, and, Coach Mike Thornton said, marked an achievement he could only have hoped for when the season began.

“We lost seven players from our roster over the summer for a variety of reasons and, when we lost early to Victor Valley, one of the worst teams in the state, I thought if things went well for us, we could win five games,” Thornton said. “And I honestly thought it was possible that we wouldn’t win a game.”

OCC has now earned back-to-back victories after a 13-game losing streak that included the first nine conference games. The Pirates were handled, 77-59, in the first round by defending OEC champion Gauchos on Jan. 23 at OCC.

But the Pirates executed with season-best precision against Saddleback (13-16, 4-8), which finished its season on a four-game losing streak.

OCC, which entered the week ranked 86th among 89 teams in the state in field-goal percentage, shot a season-best 47.5% from the field, including 16 for 28 in the opening 20 minutes. The Pirates used a stream of layups, on designed offensive sets that gashed the Gauchos’ defense, in order to build a 41-25 halftime advantage.

Saddleback made just seven of 34 from the field before intermission (20.6%) and couldn’t protect the paint on defense.

But the hosts turned things around in the second half, surging to within 56-54 with 8:13 left.

But OCC sophomore Jasmine Matar, who sat out more than eight minutes after picking up her fourth foul with 17:48 left in the game, scored 18 of the Pirates’ final 20 points to help the visitors never surrender the lead.

Matar, who took just four shots and missed eight minutes due to foul trouble in the first half, finished with 26 points, 13 rebounds, four assists and one steal in 24 minutes.

She made a handful of difficult shots, all created off the dribble, down the stretch, and netted all six of her foul shots in the last 3:44. Matar netted two free throws with 31 seconds left to put OCC up, 72-65, but Saddleback sophomore guard Deja Brooks, last season’s OEC Player of the Year, answered with a three-pointer to shave the deficit to four with 25 ticks remaining.

The ensuing inbound pass appeared to go out of bounds off Matar, but the officials allowed the Pirates to retain possession.

OCC sophomore Nicole Beaudoin was fouled with 14 seconds left, but missed both double-bonus free throws to give Saddleback a hope.

Brooks, who was one for 13 and netted only three points before halftime, launched a three-point try with 4.9 seconds left that missed badly. But she was fouled on the play and made two free throws to finish with 24 points.

Matar, however, finalized the scoring with two free throws with two seconds left and OCC had a rare chance to celebrate.

“We have kids in there who haven’t played a lot, we’re obviously not very good in the first place, and we don’t play with a lot of intelligence by any stretch of the imagination,” Thornton said. “But we got to the basket well tonight and [Matar] came through for us in the second half. We got the ball where we wanted to get the ball in some pressure situations, and we haven’t been good at that. We came through, so I was happy.”

Beaudoin, who made some big buckets when Matar was out and the Gauchos were charging early in the second half, collected 19 points. She played all 40 minutes.

And Danielle Obong, a freshman out of Costa Mesa High, was six for eight from the field to produce 14 points, more than double her 6.4 average.

Kelcie Mayott and Maddy Seward, who started in place of Kawa Andrade who sat out due to disciplinary reasons, both had seven points.

Deanna Fink had a team-best five assists to go with four rebounds and two steals in just 16 minutes to lead four OCC reserves who produced one point.

OCC lost the rebounding battle, 56-40, and its 14 turnovers were two more than the Gauchos’ total.

But it all amounted to maximum satisfaction.

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Orange Empire Conference

Orange Coast 74, Saddleback 70

OCC – Matar 26, Mayott 7, Beaudoin 19, Obong 14, Seward 7, Rulon 1.

3-pt. goals – Beaudoin 1, Obong 1.

Fouled out – Mayott.

Technicals – None.

Sad – Munson 5, Corley 4, brooks 24, Cox 12, Levander 0, Daniels 11, Saliba 6, Williams 4, Steel 3, Pierce 1.

3-pt. goals – Cox 4, Brooks 2.

Fouled out – None.

Technicals – None.

Halftime – 41-25, OCC.