OCC ups win streak to eleven

Despite missing two starters, Pirates find way to hold off Chaffey, 47-41, to advance to semifinals of Coast Christmas Classic tonight against El Camino.COSTA MESA -- Depleted, dinged up and yet still determined, the Orange Coast College women’s basketball team extended its winning streak to 11 Friday night.

The Pirates (12-1), playing without two starters due to injuries, handled visiting Chaffey, 47-41, in the quarterfinals of the Coast Christmas Classic.

The win moved Coach Mike Thornton’s Bucs into a semifinal meeting with El Camino tonight at 7:30.

The hosts appeared ready to run the Panthers into the consolation bracket, seizing leads of 14-4 and 19-6.

Orange Coast made 13 of 25 field-goal attempts in the opening half (52%) to settle for a 32-20 advantage at the break.

But OCC went cold in the final 20 minutes, allowing Chaffey (1-10) to pare into the deficit. The Panthers pulled within 43-38 with 3:23 remaining, but the Pirates outscored the visitors from there on to survive and advance.

“Our kids are really gritty,” Thornton said, “So they just keep finding a way to win. The only reason we’re 12-1 is because we have tough kids.”

Sophomore guard Crystal McCormick displayed said toughness by barreling through traffic for two crucial baskets in the late going.

And 6-foot-3 freshman center Madison Parks grimaced through consistent knee pain to produce a game-high 18 rebounds, while also scoring 14 points. Parks followed her shot with 35 seconds left to create a 47-40 lead and all but seal the win.

“I still think she’s playing at only about 75%,” Thornton said of Parks, the sister of nine-year NBA veteran Cherokee Parks. “She has a torn meniscus and it has limited her movement. It also makes it tough for her to play three games in a row, like we’ll need her to do in this tournament.”

McCormick, whom Thornton said is as streaky a shooter as he has seen, made four of her first five shots, including 2 of 3 from three-point range, to trigger the Pirates’ early success.

And though McCormick cooled along with her teammates after intermission -- she missed her first five tries from the field in the second half -- she came up big as the lead was slipping away.

“Crystal has hit some big buckets for us this year,” Thornton said. “When she first came here, she was strictly a spot-up shooter. But she has done a good job of improving other areas of her game, including getting to the basket.”

McCormick resembled a running back rumbling through the line after Chaffey had pulled to within 41-35. She drove, shoulder down, around a defender toward the baseline, and then cut toward the foul line in the lane before curling back toward the far block to bank in a running five-footer with 6:27 left.

After Chaffey scored three straight points, McCormick once again lowered her shoulder at the free-throw line, enabling her to power past a defender and convert a layup with 1:57 left that gave OCC a 45-38 advantage.

McCormick finished with a team-high 16 points. She added four rebounds, two assists and one steal.

The strong performances by McCormick and Parks came in handy, since the Pirates were without talented starters Laurie Denning and Jillian Ricks.

Denning is sidelined by a knee injury and is still awaiting a MRI that will determine the extent of the damage. Bad news could mean she is lost for the season.

Ricks, a sophomore transfer from Weber State, had root canal surgery on two teeth Friday. She suffered a blow to the face in the Pirates’ victory over Cerritos on Dec. 9 that Thornton said rearranged some of her teeth. She is out at least this weekend and possibly much longer.

Thornton is relying on depth, including increased contributions from guards Teeya Fernandez (two points, four rebounds and two steals) and Valerie Katayama (two points and two assists), to help cover the backcourt void left by Denning, who is averaging 8.3 points.

Thornton is counting on sophomore Nancy Castro, an Estancia High product, and freshman Kristen Cabral to fill in for Ricks. But Cabral sat out the first half Friday, as punishment for missing a practice this week. She made both of her field-goal attempts and her only free throw to finish with five points in 17 minutes.

Castro fouled out without scoring, but chipped in two assists in 21 minutes.

Meghan Maxwell added eight points off the bench for OCC, which will try to earn its second win over El Camino this season.

The Pirates topped the Warriors, 53-41, on Nov. 18.

Coast Christmas Classic

Quarterfinal

Orange Coast 47,

Chaffey 41

Score by Halves