Orange Coast can’t keep up

The Pirates can’t hold on to a four-point halftime lead and drop a key Orange Empire Conference game at home. COSTA MESA -- As good as Orange Coast College’s women’s basketball team is -- being the No. 4 team in the state and No. 2 in Southern California -- there hasn’t been much room for error.

And when the Pirates run into a quicker, more athletic team -- like they did Friday night -- that margin gets even smaller.

Riverside Community College put on the pressure and took away a victory, upsetting OCC, 61-50, in an Orange Empire Conference game. Riverside, ranked No. 5 in the state and No. 4 in Southern California, forced 18 turnovers as it avenged a 64-57 loss to the Pirates on Jan. 4.

Things looked OK for OCC (24-3, 7-1 in conference) at halftime. The Pirates used a 15-4 run -- scoring all of their points via the three-pointer -- to take a 25-21 lead at the break. They were also outrebounding the Tigers, 27-14.

The first sign of trouble came when Riverside rattled off a 9-0 run to open the second half. OCC got back into it, going back ahead on Crystal McCormick’s second three-pointer of the half, but the tide had already changed.

The Tigers (20-7, 6-2) responded with a 15-2 run, with six points coming from LaToya Riggins, to take the lead for good.

After shooting 54.5% from three-point range in the first half, OCC made just two of 10 in the second half -- none after the 14:16 mark.

“They turned up the heat on defense,” OCC Coach Mike Thornton said. “Them and Cypress are the two most athletic teams in our conference.

“It’s tough to get threes when they’re playing defense like that.”

With nothing working from three-point range, the Pirates did what they could to establish the inside game. Madison Parks scored five of her nine points down the stretch, but it was not nearly enough to stem the tide.

Riverside Coach Alicia Berber said the pregame goal was to force the Pirates out of their offensive comfort zone, but that some early fouls forced the Tigers to back off. With a fresh start in the second half, that philosophy paid off.

“We practiced on that all week for this game,” Berber said. “They had a lot of motivation after [OCC] beat us at home.”

The Tigers moved pretty crisply on offense, committing just two turnovers in the second half. OCC also committed 11 second-half fouls, leading to 15 free throws for the visitors.

“We knew we had to play a near-perfect game to beat them,” Thornton said. “Our margin for error just isn’t as big as other teams. We were 7-0 in conference, but we’ve had to work pretty hard for all seven of them.”

The Pirates, coming off a five-overtime victory over Fullerton on Wednesday night, were able to impose their will to an extent early. After taking more than four minutes to score their first basket, the Pirates made five three-pointers to take a 17-13 lead. Devin Hundley hit two from long range, her only points of the game, to spark the run.

With Riverside struggling to make shots, OCC was able to control the boards. Kristen Cabral grabbed seven rebounds in the first half alone, and Parks had six rebounds.

McCormick led the Pirates with 11 points. Parks finished with nine points and nine rebounds, with Valerie Katayama adding nine points and three assists.

Cabral had six points and nine rebounds off the bench, and Jillian Ricks chipped in with seven points and five rebounds.

Tyresha Calhoun scored 15 points to lead the Tigers, 13 of them coming in the second half. Shavonne Smith added 14 points and seven rebounds.

Orange Empire Conference

Riverside 61, Orange Coast 50

Score by Halves