Community college women’s basketball: Pirates open playoffs today

Steve Virgen

COSTA MESA - After a 63-62 loss to Santa Ana College, Jan. 29, the

Orange Coast College made a vow to never lose another game. One month

later, the Pirates continue their mission.

Coast, which is riding a seven-game winning streak, opens the Southern

California Regional Playoffs tonight at 7, hosting Ridgecrest-based Cerro

Coso.

The young Pirates (23-8), seeded sixth, who feature four freshman

starters, accomplished their goal of sweeping through the second round of

Orange Empire Conference play and now they turn their sights to the

playoffs and Cerro Coso (15-16).

“Our team is playing with a level of confidence we haven’t had all

season long,” said OCC Coach Mike Thornton, who is in his 13th season and

has guided the Pirates to 10 20-or-more win seasons. “We ended up winning

all our games (in the second round of OEC). That helped us. That made us

believe we can beat any team on any given day. But we know we could also

lose if we play badly. It’s like that one saying, momentum is the next

day’s starting pitcher.”

Sophomore forward Kyra Melville and freshman point guard Nancy

Hatsushi, who both earned All-OEC Team honors, lead OCC, which finished

second in conference and ended its regular season with a 63-55 win at

OEC-leader Santa Ana Saturday.

Freshman guard Lindsey Galasso, freshman 6-foot center Nicole Grady

and freshman forward Candice Quiroz round out the Pirate starters, while

5-10 freshman Charlenda Van Buren and 5-10 freshman Liz Mendoza add

consistent contributions in Thornton’s frequent rotation game plan.

“(Cerro Coso is) real athletic,” Thornton said of the Coyotes from the

Foothill Conference. “They’re capable of beating good teams. They get

wild at times. But, their record might be a little deceiving. I don’t

think they shoot the ball well from the perimeter, but they like to take

the ball to the basket.”