Women’s basketball: Cold shooting kills Pirates

Tony Altobelli

COSTA MESA - In a game where ice-cold shooting was the in thing to

do, Shauna Steward refused to conform.

The 5-foot-7 shooting guard drilled eight three pointers and finished the

game with 28 points, but a miserable first half proved costly to the

Orange Coast College women’s basketball team, losing at home to Irvine

Valley, 59-55, Wednesday evening.

The Pirates (24-4, 8-3 in conference) shot 11% (4 for 36) from the field

in the first half and trailed by as many as 25 points, before staging a

furious comeback led by Steward.

“It’s hard to come all the way back from such a big hole, but we managed

to do so,” Coach Mike Thornton said. “We had two mental mistakes down the

stretch that cost us.”

IVC (19-8, 8-3) led, 36-13 at the half and scored the first basket of the

second half to lead by 25, before OCC went to work.

In 12 minutes, the Pirates outscored the Lasers, 28-3, to tie the game at

41-41 with 8:30 remaining. Steward had 16 of those 28 points.

OCC actually led by three before a 7-2 run put the Lasers ahead, 57-55

with under a minute remaining.

“We had two poor defensive efforts down the stretch that turned into easy

baskets for them,” Thornton said.

The Bucs had a couple of opportunities to even the score, but a missed

lay-up and a traveling violation ended their chances.

With the exception of Steward, the Pirates shot 20% for the entire game

(11 for 55). Eleven three-pointers kept the Pirates in the game.

“This game reflects how we’ve played all year,” Thornton said. “I said at

the beginning of the year that we would be a good shooting team and we

haven’t been. We’re good at times, like we were tonight. That just won’t

get it done.”

The loss puts the Pirates in a first-place tie with the Lasers, but with

a tough road matchup with Santa Ana on the horizon, OCC has the

disadvantage.

“We can get it done. We can beat Santa Ana,” Thornton said. “We’re gonna

have to shoot much better than we did tonight, that’s for sure.”

It was the south basket of OCC’s gym that proved the most stingy. Both

teams combined for 21% (13 of 60)shooting from the field, while shooting

32 for 66 at the north basket.

Dawn Regan led the Lasers with 12 points, while Fala Sulaunoa added 11.