No charity needed for Orange Coast triumph

HUNTINGTON BEACH — Orange Coast College women’s basketball coach Mike Thornton asks that his team play every game as if it’s against the most difficult opponent.

Even beyond that, the Pirates’ players had an ulterior motive to play well against overmatched Golden West in Friday night’s Orange Empire Conference game on the Rustlers’ floor.

The result was a 102-33 romp for the Pirates (22-3, 8-0 in conference), ranked No. 7 in the state and No. 4 in Southern California.

“All of our kids were upset that we didn’t play better against Riverside [a 74-66 victory on Wednesday], because we wanted to play well enough to get some playing time for [seldom-used reserves] Yoshie Honda and Lee Wang,” Thornton said. “It was nothing anybody said, but you could feel the disappointment.”

Using its trademark defensive pressure and its unselfish, fast-paced offensive attack, OCC opened leads of 19-0, 35-2 and 52-4, the latter with 6:54 left in the first half. OCC led, 63-12, at the break.

Honda, a 5-foot-4 freshman guard from Japan, entered with about eight minutes left before halftime.

Wang, a 5-5 freshman guard from Edison High, hit the court just more than one minute later, as the Pirates proceeded to win their 11th straight game, their 20th in their last 21 contests.

The lopsided margin was the biggest this season for the Pirates, who hit the 100-mark for the fourth time in the campaign. It was the Pirates’ biggest victory margin since a 116-33 nonconference triumph over Grossmont on Dec. 12, 1992 — a span of 480 contests.

Honda and Wang made good on their playing time, which Thornton estimated at around 12-16 minutes, the most either has had in a game this season.

Wang had two points, a driving underhand layup, three assists and two rebounds. She was one of two from the field.

Honda finished with two points, a 19-footer, two assists and one rebound.

Eleven of the 12 Pirates who played scored, led by 5-4 sophomore reserve guard Robin Smith, who netted 24 points. Smith, a first-team all-conference performer last season at Irvine Valley, has embraced her role coming off the bench. She made eight of her first 10 shots from the field, including five of seven from three-point range, and finished with a game-high six three-pointers.

“Whatever I can do to help the team,” Smith said of her attitude, one that obviously permeates the Pirates’ roster.

“We have really shared the ball this season,” Thornton said. “Our assist-to-turnover ratio is incredible.”

Unofficially, OCC had 26 assists against the Rustlers, while committing just 10 turnovers.

The Pirates, meanwhile, forced 18 of the Rustlers’ 24 turnovers in the first 20 minutes, before they retreated to an active two-three zone with no press for the entire second half.

OCC made 42 of 80 field-goal attempts (53.8%) for the game, after converting 60.5% in the first half (26 of 46, including nine of 20 from three-point range).

So efficient was the OCC offense, the Pirates did not shoot a single free throw, as Golden West defenders were usually a pass behind in their pursuit, leaving OCC shooters virtually untouched.

“I’ve never had a game where we didn’t shoot a free throw,” Thornton said.

Meanwhile, Golden West finished 14 of 70 from the field (20%). The Rustlers’ shooting woes carried over to the foul line, where they missed all 11 first-half attempts and finished four of 16.

OCC freshman Courtney Ford, who came in leading the Pirates in scoring at 18.6 per game, had 19 points to go with five rebounds, four assists, four steals and one blocked shot.

Freshman Lindsay Allen had 14 points for the winners, converting seven of her nine field-goal attempts.

Freshman point guard Rachael Maulit had six points, five rebounds, five assists and three steals, while freshman guard Katie Kissee chipped in 13 points off the bench, including three three-pointers.

Freshman center Christina Calcagno also came off the bench to collect eight points and a team-high nine rebounds.

The biggest OCC lead was 100-30.

Siutiti Takai, a 6-0 freshman center from Hawaii, led the Rustlers with 10 points and 11 rebounds.

The Pirates put their streak on the line next week at Cypress Wednesday and Friday at home against Fullerton.

Orange Empire ConfernceOrange Coast -- Taylor 14, Ford 19, Maulit 6, Hundley 5, Smith 24, Kissee 13, Calcagno 8, Barney 5, Schmidt 4, Honda 2, Wang 2.

Orange Coast 102,

Golden West 33

3-pt. goals -- Smith 6, Ford 3, Kissee 3, Hundley 1, Barney 1.

Golden West -- Rapati 4, Jones 2, Takai 10, Stovall 2, Torres 8, Romero 7.

3-pt. goals -- Romero 1.

Halftime -- 63-12, OCC.