Thornton’s Pirates boast rare depth

Mike Thornton begins his 28th season at Orange Coast College on Friday and the 69-year-old women’s basketball coach is as enthusiastic as ever about his team’s chance to compete for the 23rd postseason berth during his tenure with the Pirates.

OCC, which was 16-14 last season and won a first-round playoff game, has eight sophomores and 13 players, all of whom have shown enough ability to make a viable case for playing time.

“This is the first time that I feel like all 13 of our players could be in the game in the first half,” said Thornton, who has 558 wins and a .668 winning percentage at OCC. “I wouldn’t be afraid to play any of them, at least a limited amount, then let playing time depend on how much they produce.”

The abundance of depth will make a starting lineup pliable, and to a large extent, unimportant.

“We’re not going to have a set starting lineup, at least for the first month of the season,” Thornton said. “And it could be that way all season long.”

Chyann Pendergrass, a first-team All-Orange Empire Conference performer last season, when Thornton said she was the best point in the conference, leads the way. She averaged 10.8 points, 3.4 rebounds and 5.1 assists and started 29 of 30 games.

“She’s one of the most cerebral players I’ve ever had and one of maybe four point guards I’ve had who I will allow to call sets based on what she sees on the floor,” Thornton said.

Other returning starters are 5-foot-9 Sarah Nunes (7.8 points and 5.6 rebounds per game as a freshman), and sharpshooting guard Michelle Wu (7.6 points and 39% accuracy from three-point range last season).

Sophomore guard Danielle Obong, a Costa Mesa High product, started 17 games as a freshman in 2014-15, when she averaged 6.4 points. She is one of three players who redshirted last season whom Thornton said have shown considerable improvement.

Jenna Rodriguez, a second-team all-conference player last season as a freshman, when she averaged a team-best 13.1 points and 8.3 rebounds, has transferred to Irvine Valley, where she is required to sit out this season.

Sami Little, a sophomore guard who earned first-team all-conference honors last season, has joined the coaching staff, where former Pirates Val Katayama and Alyssa Hanson create a group about which Thornton raves.

“I think Sami is the ninth former player to come back and coach for me at Coast,” Thornton said.

Megan Lewis (4.4 points and 2.9 rebounds per game), Bela Raimondi, who played two seasons ago out of Newport Harbor High, Brandi Arita, and Megan McCullough, who played two seasons ago at Rio Hondo, are additional sophomores expected to contribute.

The freshmen include 6-1 Elizabeth Sakamoto, whom Thornton called a big-time recruit.

Freshman Jenna Miramontez, whose father Jesse is an assistant for the OCC men’s team, is coming off three knee surgeries. Thornton describes her as a phenomenal three-point shooter.

Thornton said freshman Sydnee Diggs, who averaged 17.7 points as a high school senior in Minnesota last season, is as good a mid-range shooter as Thornton has ever had, he said.

Thornton said perimeter shooting is the team’s strength.

Local products Abriona Mathis (Costa Mesa High) and McKenna Izzi (Newport Harbor), add depth for the Pirates, who open against Palomar Friday at 1 p.m. in the Mt. San Jacinto Tournament.

Palomar is coached by former OCC player and assistant Leigh Marshall.

Thornton said Santa Ana, coached by former OCC player and assistant Flo Luppani and featuring reigning OEC Player of the Year Blaysen Varnadoe, as well as former Estancia standout Celia Duran, is the favorite to win the conference.

OCC opens conference play Jan. 4 at home against Saddleback.

‘Eaters primed for 2017

The UC Irvine women’s soccer team completed its most successful season in five years in a 3-0 loss to Long Beach State in the final of the Big West Conference Tournament on Sunday.

Coach Scott Juniper’s squad, which started the season 8-1, lost four straight, then went 5-2-1 down the stretch, loses only three players to graduation, including first-team all-conference defender Kelsey Texeira.

Another departing senior, reserve defender Sammie James, is among those who believe the Anteaters are going to be a force in the Big West, and beyond next season.

“I’m excited for what is to come for this team,” James said Sunday after the loss. “I’m going to be cheering for them and I’m stoked to see what they are going to do.”

UCI, coming off back-to-back losing seasons, was picked to finish seventh in the 2016 Big West preseason poll. But it came up one win short of a conference regular-season title, despite scoring leader Kiana Palacios (nine goals and five assists), a first-team all-conference choice, missing the last six games while training to represent Mexico in the Under-20 Women’s World Cup.

Rustlers reign

The Golden West College men’s water polo team added to an impressive streak Saturday by claiming the program’s 28th consecutive conference championship.

Coach Scott Taylor’s Rustlers (26-0) won the Orange Empire Conference tournament with a decisive 18-7 triumph over Riverside on Saturday.

Golden West plays host to the Southern California Championships that begin Friday and conclude with the 4:30 p.m. title game on Saturday.

OCC streak ends

Another impressive streak, this one built by the Orange Coast College women’s volleyball team, will come to an end this season.

The Pirates’ run of 17 straight postseason berths will be halted, as they are 9-16, 4-11 in the Orange Empire Conference). They are in seventh place in the nine-team OEC, with one regular-season match remaining.