Maulit makes OCC go

Rachael Maulit said she would, one day, like to become an investigator. For now, however, the Orange Coast College sophomore point guard is content to play the thief.

And while the defensive demon is averaging four steals per game, her myriad contributions have helped her leave her fingerprints all over the Pirates women’s basketball team’s 11-1 start.

“I just love her,” said OCC Coach Mike Thornton, who in his 19th season at the Pirates’ helm, said he may not ever have had a more selfless point guard.

“She is unbelievable at what she does,” Thornton said. “She’s the best at running the offense, in terms of her decision making. She runs the floor better than anybody we’ve ever had. And she’s the best defensive point guard we’ve had. And, along with Courtney [Ford, a sophomore who leads the team in scoring and was the Orange Empire Conference Player of the Year as a freshman], they are the two most competitive players we’ve ever had. They just refuse to lose.”

Losing is something Maulit, a four-time Most Valuable Player at Marina High, said she does not abide. And with Maulit in the lineup, OCC, ranked No. 2 in Southern California and No. 3 in the state, is 39-5, including 14-0 in conference play.

The Pirates play host to the Coast Christmas Classic, an eight-team tournament that runs today through Sunday. OCC puts its seven-game winning streak on the line tonight at 7:30 against Cuesta in a first-round clash.

“There is a source of pride in this tournament, because it’s in our house,” Maulit said. “You never want to lose at home.”

If victorious tonight, OCC would play a semifinal 7:30 p.m. Saturday. The title game is scheduled 3:30 p.m. Sunday.

Losing on the road is similarly distasteful to the 5-foot-5 floor leader, who said the attribute that she is most proud of is her competitiveness.

“Basketball is business,” she said. “I get frustrated even if we’re losing in practice. We just have to win.”

Toward that goal, Maulit said she is more concerned with defense than offense, a rarity in today’s athletic landscape, in which highlight reels are built almost solely on offensive exploits.

“I’ve always been more of a defensive player than an offensive player,” she said. “I think defense has always been my thing.”

Maulit said she does not quantify her goal, when it comes to limiting opponents. It’s much simpler than that.

“I just want to make it a nightmare for them,” Maulit said of the player she is guarding.

Asked to construct her own personal 30-second basketball time capsule, she said it would always begin with defense.

“Once we play good defense, we would get the ball and go,” she said of the hypothetical scenario. “Then, after we score, we’d be in our press. One game, we didn’t let the ball pass half court for a while. That’s the best feeling ever, when everyone is doing their part.”

Maulit, whose pass-first mentality has limited her to 3.3 points per game, down from the 4.9 she averaged as a freshman, helps insure that all her teammates are involved in the offense.

“She knows her teammates really well and she knows who to get the ball to,” Thornton said.

Maulit is averaging 6.3 assists, while averaging a mere 1.3 turnovers per contest. But when she does commit a rare miscue that results in a lost possession, she usually wastes little time making up for it, Thornton said.

“If she does miss a layup or turn the ball over, she has an uncanny ability to sprint down to the other end and get it back, whether making a steal or deflecting a pass,” Thornton said.

And though she sacrifices her own scoring numbers, Thornton said she usually saves her offensive contributions for the most meaningful moments.

“She makes clutch baskets and free throws all the time,” Thornton said. “When I went to watch her play her senior year in high school, she must have won three or four games for her team by doing something in the last minute. She’s never going to be a great shooter, but she can get to the basket when she needs to.”

Maulit, who is on pace to get her associate of arts degree this year, said she would like to help lead the Pirates to the state tournament this season.

She then hopes to earn a scholarship to continue her collegiate career at a four-year school.

A self-described CSI fan, she said a possible career path would be criminal investigation.

“I just think that would be a fun job,” she said. “I’d want to find someone that no one else could find.”

BARRY FAULKNER may be reached at (714) 966-4615 or at barry.faulkner@latimes.com.