Women’s basketball: Pirates escape with win

MISSION VIEJO - Shauna Steward scored 22 points, including the

final five points of the game, leading the Orange Coast College women’s

basketball team to a 64-60 Orange Empire Conference win over host

Saddleback Wednesday.

Saddleback (4-25, 0-13 in conference) rallied from a 13-point deficit in

the second half to take a 60-59 lead with only 48 seconds remaining.

Steward drained a three-pointer, her fifth of the game, with 31 seconds

left and after a Gaucho miss, added a pair of free throws to pull out the

win for OCC (25-5, 9-4).

Karyn Fierst added 15 points, including four three-pointers while Sarah

Middlebrooke and Melissa Lewis combined for 10 points and 22 rebounds.

Betsy Holman led the Gauchos with 18 points and six rebounds, while Erin

Edmiston, who entered the game second in the OEC in scoring at 19.9

points a game, was held to 11 points and 10 rebounds.

Poor shooting continues to curse the Pirates, but not without reason.

They shot 30% (22 of 71) from the field, with 34 of those attempts coming

from three-point land.

Fortunately, the Pirates connected on 10 treys to only five from

Saddleback.

The Pirates will conclude OEC play when they host Riverside Friday at

5:30 p.m.

ORANGE EMPIRE CONFERENCE

Orange Coast 64, Saddleback 60

Orange Coast - Steward 22, Fierst 15, Urban 7, Tomlinson 6, Middlebrooke

6, Lewis 4, Johnson 2, Wilde 2.

3 pt. goals - Steward 5, Fierst 4, Urban 1.

Fouled out - None.

Saddleback - Holman 18, Jenkins 12, Edmiston 11, Ramirez 9, Castro 6,

McKinney 4.

3 pt. goals - Ramirez 3, Holman 2.

Fouled out - None.

Halftime - OCC, 26-20.