Pirates off to State

Oh, the sweet confines of Peterson Gym.

The fourth-seeded Orange Coast College women’s basketball team

(27-7) advanced to the State Tournament for the first time since the

1997-98 season with a scintillating 51-49 victory over visiting

Compton -- the No. 5 seed -- Saturday in the Southern California

Regional final.

The game went down to the final seconds, with Coast needing a

defensive stop as Compton called a timeout to set up a play with 11

seconds. Nicole Hunter, who had 14 points for Compton, threw up a

22-footer but missed short and sophomore Lauren Murray (six points)

grabbed one of her eight rebounds before time expired.

Freshman Alisa Carrillo hit two free throws with 18 seconds left

and finished with a game-high 21 points on 7 of 11 from the field and

7 of 8 from the foul line.

“The sophomores deserve to go to the state tournament,” said OCC

Coach Mike Thornton. “They have been so good to us the last couple

years. Just to have the opportunity to go to the (state tournament),

that was their goal at the beginning of the year. We’ve had some ups

and some downs and some good times and some bad times, but to be able

to play here and win on our home floor was great.”

Sophomore Liz Mendoza finished with nine points while Lindsey

Galasso added eight with three steals. Sophomore Nancy Hatsushi

tallied three points with three assists while Candice Quiroz led

Coast with five assists.

The Pirates made 9 of 24 field goal attempts in the first half

(37.5%) and finished 35.3% for the game, including a 4-of-20 clip

(20%) from three-point range, but Compton fared worse. The visitors

shot just 29.9% from the field.

The Pirates contained Compton forward LaConia Hatcher, the South

Coast Conference Southern Division Player of the Year, who came into

the game averaging 21.4 points. She managed just 5 points Saturday

(2-of-16).

“We worked really hard in denying (Hatcher) the ball in their

half-court offense,” Thornton said. “We knew we couldn’t go out and

pick her up full court because we knew she would blow by defenders.”

The Pirates trailed, 49-44, with 5:37 to play, but held Compton

without a point the rest of the way, thanks to a 3-2 zone Thornton

has now used in the last two victories for Coast.

“We haven’t really used a zone at all this season, but it made a

big difference when we did,” Thornton said.

Carrillo hit a short jumper with 4:01 to play for the final field

goal of the game.

Murray grabbed a team-high 10 rebounds with Carrillo adding eight.

The Bucs get set to travel to the Jenny Craig Pavilion at the

University of San Diego for the State Tournament. Their opponent will

be announced Thursday.