Sage downed

Senior star Matt Loper fouled out early in the fourth quarter on a

questionable technical foul call and the Sage Hill School boys

basketball team went on to lose in the first round of CIF Southern

Section Division IV-A playoffs to host Woodcrest Christian, 61-53,

Wednesday night.

Loper gathered his fourth foul early in the third quarter and sat

out until the opening moments of the fourth. On a steal and fastbreak

opening the fourth, Loper drove the lane for a shot and his momentum

carried him out the gymnasium door, according to Sage Coach Steve

Keith. The referee gave him a technical for leaving the gym, Keith

said.

The score was tied at that point, but Woodcrest (17-7) hit all of the free throws to go up by six points and held on from there. Loper

finished with 10 points playing in his last high school game, while

freshman Jamie McGee had 14. Woodcrest’s John Renti had a game-high

25 points, 14 in the fourth quarter and was 10 of 10 from the

free-throw line.

Sage finished its season 16-11.

CIF Southern Section Division IV-A

First round

Woodcrest Christian 61,

Sage Hill 53

Score by Quarters

*--*

Sage Hill 15 10 12 16 -- 53

Woodcrest 9 16 12 24 -- 61

*--*

Sage -- Ogron 8, Lefler 7, Loper 10, McGee 14, Voge 10, Witte 2,

Hancock 2, Rose 0, Samel 0.

3-pt. goals -- McGee 4, Ogron 2.

Fouled out -- Loper.

Technicals -- Loper, Keith.

Woodcrest -- Moss 7, Gypsum 6, Bradford 6, Nichols 13, Renti 25,

Munoz 2, Mudge 2.

3-pt. goals -- Nichols 3, Gibson 1.

Fouled out -- Moss.

Technicals -- None.

Orange Coast swept

* VOLLEYBALL: Ky Fell led the Orange Coast College men’s

volleyball team with 14 kills and eight digs but the Pirates lost to

visiting Santa Monica in three, 25-15, 25-23, 25-17, in a

nonconference match Wednesday.

Drew Ginther had 31 assists and Glenn Henry had eight digs for the

Pirates (2-2). Scott Sankey added seven kills and Josh Kornegay had

six.

Dragan Ivanovich had a match-high 15 kills for Santa Monica (2-0),

while Derek Otte and Brian Schirippa each added eight kills.

Coast loses opener

* SOFTBALL: The Orange Coast College softball team gave up seven

runs during the last three innings and lost to visiting Golden West,

10-3, in an Orange Empire Conference opener Wednesday.

Kim Ensey pitched the seven innings for Coast (1-8, 0-1 in the

OEC), allowing nine hits and 10 runs. She struck out six. Michelle

Jackson finished hitting 2 for 3, while Dawn Dallaire and Ashleigh

Miller went 1 for 3 for the Pirates.

Danielle Hall was 2 of 3 with one home run for Golden West (2-9,

1-0).

Orange Empire Conference

Golden West 10,

Orange Coast 3

Score by Innings

*--*

GWC 3 0 0 0 3 2 2 - 10 9 1

OCC 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 - 3 7 2

*--*

Stouff, Bagley (5); Ensey. W -- Stouff, 1-4. L -- Ensey, 0-6. Sv

-- Bagley (1). 2B -- Laragoza (GW), Lumb (GW). HR -- Hall (GW).

UCI visits LBSU

* BASKETBALL: Coach Pat Douglass’ UC Irvine men’s basketball team

(11-10, 5-8 in the Big West Conference) travels to Long Beach State

Thursday night and hosts future conference member UC Davis Saturday

night.

UCI, with its 11 wins, has matched its total from last season

(11-17). Following this week’s games, UCI travels to Idaho Feb. 24

and Utah State Feb. 26 before closing the regular season hosting UC

Santa Barbara March 3 and Cal Poly March 5.

Local teams open

* CIF PLAYOFFS: The Newport Harbor High girls water polo team,

along with the Newport, CdM and Sage Hill girls basketball teams, all

open postseason play today in their respective divisions.

The Sea View League champion Sailors’ water polo team (24-3),

second-seeded in CIF Southern Section Division I, hosts Huntington

Beach (15-8) at 3:15 p.m., while the Sailors’ girls basketball team

(11-15) hosts Paloma Valley (13-14) at 7:30 p.m. in a Division II-AA

wild card game.

The Corona del Mar girls basketball team (13-13) visits Bishop

Montgomery (16-11) at 7:30 p.m. in a Division III-A wild card game,

and the Academy League champion Sage Hill girls basketball team

(12-8), eighth-seeded in Division IV-A, hosts Buckley (10-12) at 7:30

p.m.