COLLEGE ROUNDUP

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

Orange Coast 70,

Saddleback 65

MISSION VIEJO — Guard Courtney Ford finished with a game-high 27 points to go with 15 rebounds and seven assists as the Pirates on Wednesday night wrapped up their second straight outright Orange Empire Conference championship.

Forward Brittany Taylor had nine points and six rebounds for OCC (28-3, 12-1), which is ranked No. 3 in Southern California and No. 5 in the state.

The Pirates close out the regular season at home against Santa Ana Friday at 5:30 p.m. before the playoffs begin.

Orange Empire Conference

Orange Coast 70, Saddleback 65

OCC – Ford 27, Barney 19, Taylor 9, Ibbotson 9, Gomez 4, Kissee 2.

3-pt. goals – Barney 2, Ibbotson 1.

Sad – Jones 23, Chacon 19, Klockgether 15, Mason 4, Paopao 4.

3-pt. goals – Chacon 3, Klockgether 1, Jones 1.

Fouled out – Paopao.

Halftime – OCC, 40-36.

MEN’S BASKETBALL

Orange Coast 94,

Saddleback 70

MISSION VIEJO — Guard Brian Gee hit six three-pointers and finished with a game-high 20 points for the Pirates in an Orange Empire Conference game Wednesday night.

OCC (8-20, 3-8 in conference) made 16 three-pointers in the game, five by guard Tres Saldivar, who had 15 points.

Forward Brian Helmuth added 13 points and eight rebounds for OCC, which outscored Saddleback College (11-18, 3-8), 55-31, in the second half.

Orange Empire Conference

Orange Coast 94, Saddleback 70

OCC – Gee 20, T. Saldivar 15, Molina 14, Helmuth 13, Ching 10, Engle 8, N. Saldivar 7, Lezama 4, Guess 2, Milan 1.

3-pt. goals – T. Saldivar 6, T. Saldivar 5, Molina 4, Helmuth 1.

Sad – Best 19, Oriel 11, Rentie 11, Nangialai 8, Ahrens 7, Jenkins 7, Johnson 5, Clark 2.

3-pt. goals – Oriel 2, Nangialai 2, Best, 1 Rentie 1.

Halftime – Tied, 39-39.

MEN’S VOLLEYBALL

Cal State Northridge def.

UC Irvine

NORTHRIDGE — The fourth-ranked Matadors swept No. 7 UC Irvine, 30-27, 30-24, 30-26, at the Matadome Wednesday night.

Northridge’s Eric Vance pounded a match-high 23 kills followed by Isaac Kneubuhl’s 12 kills. Setter Travis Bluemling totaled 49 set assists and five digs, while Kevin McKniff recorded eight kills and two aces.

Junior opposite Jon Steller led UCI with 16 kills, hitting .517 (16-1-29) on the night. Freshman Cory Yoder added 12 kills, while senior Aaron Harrell posted a match-high six blocks. Freshman Kevin Wynne recorded five kills and five blocks. Junior setter Ryan Ammerman tallied 23 assists and junior libero Brent Asuka totaled 10 digs.

The Anteaters out-hit (.318-.300) and out-blocked (11.5-6.5) the Matadors, but Northridge put away 15 more kills and fired five service aces to UCI’s 0.

Cal State Northridge improves to 11-4 overall and 7-3 in the MPSF while UCI goes to 8-9 on the year and 5-7 in league play.

UCI will return home to host UC Santa Barbara Saturday (Feb. 23) for a 2:00 p.m. first serve at the Bren Center.

Orange Coast def. Moorpark

The Orange Coast College men’s volleyball team improved to 4-1 overall with a 30-26, 28-30, 30-22, 30-17 nonconference win over visiting Moorpark on Wednesday night at OCC’s Peterson Gym.

Kevin Welch led the Pirates with 21 kills and a pair of solo blocks.

Libero Andrew Pizula anchored the defense with 14 digs, while setters Cory Ferraro (30 assists) and Doug Astor (17 assists) paced the offense.

Christopher Trauger led the Raiders (3-2) with 12 kills and Tony Contreras notched eight digs.

OCC returns to action this weekend at the Far Westerns Tournament, held at UC Davis, beginning on Friday at 3 p.m. against the University of Oregon’s club team.

SWIMMING

Big West Championships

LONG BEACH — The UC Irvine women’s swimming and diving team leads the Big West Championships at Belmont Plaza Olympic Pool after the first day of competition. The Anteater men are in fifth place following day one.

The relay team of senior Chelsea Nagata, junior Tanya Nielsen, sophomore Lyndsay DePaul and freshman Ann Tsuchiya won the 800 free relay with a UCI record time of 7:21.43. Ann Tsuchiya turned in the top individual performance of the night with a third place finish in the 1000 free with a time of 10:14.09.

On the men’s side, UCI took second in the 200 medley relay with a time of 1:29.24. Junior Nick Sullivan had the top individual performance for UCI on the night with a 17th place finish in the 1000 free with a time of 9:43.61.