COLLEGES:

Mike Thornton has coached the Orange Coast College women’s basketball team for 19 seasons, winning 438 of his 623 games and one state championship. But he may not have had a more enjoyable night than Friday, when the Pirates held their inaugural Alumni Night.

“It was one of the best nights of my career,” said Thornton, whose Pirates rallied to defeat Santa Ana to close out their regular season 29-3, 13-1 in the Orange Empire Conference. They had already clinched conference crown, giving them consecutive Orange Empire titles for the first time.

“There were more than 30 former players there and I think there was at least one from every team I’ve coached.”

The Alumni Night was organized by Kathleen Kelly, who played at OCC in the mid-1990s, Thornton said. The genesis of the idea came from last year’s regular-season finale, when several former players showed up to see the team finish off a perfect conference campaign. Public address announcer Doug Bennett introduced some of the former players that night and it was decided to make a better effort to get more alumni at this year’s regular-season finale.

There was a ceremony recognizing former players at halftime. “We won’t do it every year, but I want to coach five more years, so maybe we’ll do the next one five years down the road,” said Thornton, who turns 60 in September.

?The halftime ceremony presented a quandary for Thornton, whose team, ranked No. 3 in Southern California and No. 5 in the state heading into the Southern California Regional Playoffs that begin this week, had played poorly enough to face a 38-30 deficit.

“I didn’t want to spend a lot of time in the locker room at halftime, because I wanted to watch the ceremony,” Thornton said. “I told [the players] I wasn’t going to talk long and I wasn’t going to yell and scream, but 30 seconds into it, I was yelling and screaming and I’d thrown my marker across the room. My staff was amazed, but [the players] must have gotten the message, because we jumped on [the Dons] in the second half [to produce a 75-60 triumph].”

?Thornton, who lost several expected returners from last year’s 28-4 team, starts no player taller than 5-foot-9 this season, and had substantially upgraded his schedule(anticipating the fully loaded roster), said before the season this team would struggle to win 30 games.

“I had no idea we would win this many,” said Thornton, who believes his group of seven sophomores, including returning conference player of the year Courtney Ford, have gone above and beyond to ensure a second straight conference crown.

“I thought it would be difficult to win 25 games, but these sophomores are incredible leaders, players, and people,” Thornton said. “We had two goals entering this season. The first was to win conference again. The second was to make the state tournament in Stockton. So far, it has been a magical run for us.”

Ford, the OCC all-time career scoring leader, has been the linchpin, but sophomore point guard Rachael Maulit, closing in on the career and single-season assists record, sophomore guard Katie Kissee, sophomore post Brittany Taylor and key sophomore reserve Erin Barney have also been stellar.

Sarah Schmidt, out for the season with a broken foot, and Lee Wang round out the group of second-year players who have helped the Pirates overachieve.

Freshmen Simone Ibbotson, a starter, and Casey Gomez, a key reserve, have also been integral cogs.

?Ford is bound for Mercer, where Maulit might also land, Thornton said. Maulit is also receiving looks from Long Beach State, Gonzaga and Cal Poly Pomona.

Taylor is being pursued by Alaska-Anchorage, Cal Poly Pomona and Cal State Dominguez Hills, while Kissee could walk on at USC, Chapman or Redlands.

Schmidt is also trying to hook on at Point Loma Nazarene.

?Speaking of Point Loma, the Sea Lions, ranked No. 3 in the NAIA, invade No. 4-ranked Vanguard for a Golden State Athletic Conference first-place showdown today at 5:30 p.m.

Point Loma is 22-3, 16-1 in conference.

Vanguard, which has won five straight conference crowns and eight of the last 10, is 20-3, 16-1.

Vanguard lost at Point Loma, 86-65, on Jan. 22 to halt the Lions’ winning streak in regular-season conference games at 53. Point Loma has won 15 straight and Vanguard has won eight in a row.

?UC Irvine baseball coach Mike Gillespie, who led USC to 15 postseason appearances, five College World Series and the 1998 national championship in 20 seasons as the Trojans’ head man, will be in the opposing dugout Wednesday when the UCI plays host to USC at 7 p.m.

“I wish I knew what it was going to be like,” said Gillespie, whose son-in-law, Chad Krueter, is the Trojan’s second-year coach. “It is going to be one of the strangest things that has ever happened in my life, really. It’s made particularly strange that it’s my son-in-law and my daughter and my grandkids [with a USC allegiance].

“But I know which side I’m rooting for and we’ll get through it”

?Orange Coast College baseball coach John Altobelli, in his 16th season, picked up career win No. 436 Saturday, allowing him to pass Wendell Pickens to become No. 2 on the school’s all-time list. Altobelli needs 54 to match Mike Mayne’s 400 wins at the OCC helm, but the way the Pirates are playing, he may get more than half of those the rest of this season.

OCC (13-2-1) has won seven straight. Five Pirates are hitting better than .400 and the pitching staff has a combined earned-run average of 3.18.

Freshman Brent Wallach, a shortstop by trade, is 1-0 with seven saves in nine appearances as the Bucs’ closer. He has not allowed an earned run and has 14 strikeouts in 8 2/3 innings.

Sophomore lefty Brandon Dixon, Saturday’s winner, has allowed one earned run in 23 1/3 innings. He has allowed nine hits and fanned 21.

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