Women’s Basketball: Pirates fail to finish

In a game that featured seven ties, seven lead changes and at least that many shifts in momentum, the play that will haunt Orange Coast College women’s basketball coach Mike Thornton is the one he’d like to have back.

OCC had possession in the front court after a timeout with 12 seconds left, with the intention of taking the final shot of regulation for the win or, at worst, overtime.

Instead, a low, errant inbounds pass bounced off OCC point guard Chyann Pendergrass’ ankle and was scooped up by a Santa Ana College defender.

After the Dons called timeout, Pendegrass fouled Santa Ana’s Blaysen Varnadoe while shooting near the basket. The freshman made the first of two foul shots with 2.5 seconds left and OCC’s subsequent desperation heave from three-quarters court came up well short to give the Dons a crucial 66-65 Orange Empire Conference road victory on Wednesday.

“I screwed up at the end,” said Thornton, who has guided the Pirates to 560 wins in 27 seasons at the helm. “We should have had [Pendergrass] take the ball out of bounds instead of [Sarah Nunes, who committed the inopportune turnover]. “I thought [Pendergrass] told me during the timeout that she wanted Nunes to take it out. But, in fact, [Pendergrass] told me she wanted to take it out. And that’s the play we should have had. So, I made a huge mistake there.”

It was the second heartbreaking loss to the Dons this season for OCC, which was edged, 84-82, at Santa Ana on Jan. 8 when Varnadoe made a 12-footer at the buzzer.

“I think if we played 10 times, all 10 would go down to the wire,” said Santa Ana Coach Flo Luppani, who played and coached for Thornton at OCC. “This [Santa Ana] team is smart and has a lot of heart and our players capitalized on that at the end. [OCC] is a great program, obviously, and [Thornton] has been there forever. It’s obviously special to beat OCC always, for us and for me.”

OCC (13-11, 4-4 in conference after a season-worst third straight loss) rallied from a 32-27 halftime deficit to take a 48-46 lead into the fourth quarter. The score was tied at 50, 52, 54, 63 and 65, as sophomore Sami Little sank a layup with 35 seconds left to create the final deadlock.

Varnadoe, who led the winners with 18 points and 17 rebounds and made seven of her first 10 field-goal tries, missed a three-point attempt that gave OCC possession with 12.8 seconds left.

Thornton, whose team had a foul to give before putting Santa Ana in the penalty, instructed his players to foul if any Dons player made a move toward the basket. But Varnadoe foiled that strategy by taking an entry pass from the perimeter and attacking the basket from the block. Pendergrass fouled Varnadoe who shot immediately after fielding the pass, and once again drove the dagger through the Pirates’ collective hearts.

The loss helped Santa Ana (14-9, 4-4) join OCC and Riverside in a three-way tie for third place with four conference games remaining. Thornton said he expected three or four teams from the conference to qualify for the Southern California Regional playoffs, but Wednesday’s loss certainly didn’t promote OCC’s case.

“That puts us in a difficult situation, because Santa Ana is tied with us, but has beaten us twice,” Thornton said. “And we have Irvine Valley [which upset Cypress, 45-42, at home on Wednesday to move into a first-place tie with the Chargers, both at 6-2 in conference] on Friday at IVC.”

OCC did plenty to lessen the difficulty of its situation on Wednesday. The Pirates had the advantage over the Dons in field-goal percentage (.403 to .391), rebounds (45-40), and turnovers (two fewer than Santa Ana’s 17).

But the Dons had a critical advantage in three-point shooting. Santa Ana made nine of 31 from beyond the arc (29%), including three of eight in the fourth quarter. OCC was just three for 14 from threedom, including just one for nine after the opening period.

Freshman Jenna Rodriguez led the Pirates with 20 points and 14 rebounds. She made eight of 12 field-goal tries.

Pendergrass had 16 points and five assists, but had four turnovers, while Nunes had 13 points, seven rebounds and five turnovers.

Little had 12 points, while Deanna Fink produced 11 rebounds, including six offensive boards, in 25 minutes off the bench.

In addition to Varnadoe, sophomore guard Rachel Cain was key for the Dons. Cain made was six for 14 from three-point range to produce a career-high 22 points.

“Rachel is a stud,” Luppani said. “She’s the heart and soul of this team and she’s our leader. This team follows her.”

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Orange Empire Conference

Santa Ana 66, Orange Coast 65

SCORE BY QUARTERS

SAC 12 20 12 20 – 66

OCC 17 10 21 17 – 65

SAC – Varnadoe 18, Ivicevic 5, Cain 22, Roberson-McCanless 0, Ventura 8, Vargas 8, Fruto 5.

3-pt. goals – Cain 6, Ventura 2, Varnadoe 1.

Fouled out – None.

Technicals – None.

OCC – Rodriguez 20, Nunes 13, Pendergrass 16, Little 12, Guzman 0, Wu 2, Rulon 2.

3-pt. goals – Pendergrass 2, Nunes 1.

Fouled out – None.

Technicals – None.