Coast holds on for win in opener

Freshman Christen D’Alessandro stole an inbounds pass near midcourt

with less than five seconds remaining to help the Orange Coast

College women’s basketball team open the season with a 60-59 victory

over Solano in the first round of the Mt. San Antonio tournament

Friday.

Sophomore forward Rhondi Naff, a former Costa Mesa High standout,

scored a game-high 24 points while teammate Lauren Stepanski added 11

for Coast, which faces either defending state champion Mt. SAC or

Saddleback in the semifinals at 8:30 tonight. The final would be at 4

p.m. Sunday.

*--*

Mt. San Antonio tournament

Orange Coast 60, Solano 59

OCC -- Stepanski 11, Naff 24, D’Alessandro 5, Katayama 0, McCormick 10, Fernandez 2, Castro 6, Viloria 2, Chades 0. 3-pt. goals -- Naff 3, McCormick 2, D’Alessandro 1. Fouled out -- Katayama. Technicals -- None. Solano -- Shipp 10, Bersda 0, Salvador 2,

Scott 12, Toki 12, Negron 12, Shaw 6, Murphy 3, Steffens 0, Vaka 2, Chambers 0. 3-pt. goals -- Murphy 1. Fouled out -- None. Technicals -- None. Halftime -- OCC, 35-28.

*--*

Wing moves up ladder

* VOLLEYBALL: Senior All-American Kelly Wing tallied a match-high

18 kills while sophomore teammate Trisha White added 13 kills to help host UC Irvine earn a 30-17, 30-22, 30-23 Big West Conference victory

over Cal Poly San Luis Obispo Friday.

Wing also delivered a pair of service aces to pass Olympic gold

medalist and former Newport Harbor High standout Misty May and move

into seventh place on the all-time conference list with 161.

Setter Ashlie Hain finished with 49 assists while junior Amanda

Vazquez tallied a team-high five block assists to go with eight kills

for UCI (17-7, 10-5 in conference). Libero Keegan Featherstone earned

a match-high 16 digs, helping the ‘Eaters gain a 47-35 edge in that

category.

Pirates prevail in four

* VOLLEYBALL: Sophomore Donka Drozd tallied a team-high 22 kills

while teammate Melissa Zapiain amassed 19 kills to help lead the

visiting Orange Coast College women’s volleyball team to a 30-27,

27-30, 30-28, 31-29 Orange Empire Conference victory over Cypress

Friday night.

Zapiain and Nicole Powers each finished with 17 digs while Chontel

Palomino slammed 14 kills for the Pirates (14-4, 10-3 in the OEC),

who won for the 10th time in 11 matches.

Gauchos win in 2nd OT

* SOCCER: Neil Jones of UC Santa Barbara scored from 15 yards out

in the second overtime period in the game’s 106th minute Friday night

as the visiting Gauchos edged UC Irvine, 1-0, before 1,073 fans in a

Big West Conference men’s soccer game.

The Anteaters (7-12-0, 3-6-0 in the Big West) received eight

goalie saves from Cameron Rossi. The Big West champion and top-ranked

Gauchos improved to 17-2-1, 8-2-0.