Women’s Basketball: Pirates pound Cuesta
Hosting a tournament can be similar to winning the draft lottery, in that the home team gets to hand-pick its first-round opponent. The Orange Coast College women’s basketball team could not have done any better than a talent-strapped, depleted Cuesta squad that proved little match for the Pirates in the first round of the Erin Tomlinson Coast Christmas Classic on Thursday.
OCC used runs of 11-0, 9-2, 11-2, 10-0 and 9-0 to produce a 64-41 triumph that included 33 Cuesta turnovers and plenty of playing time for Pirates’ reserves.
OCC starters Sami Little and Jenna Rodriguez scored the team’s first 22 points to help the hosts open a 14-point lead that it eventually extended to 34 points early in the final period.
Little, a sophomore, finished with 17 points, six rebounds and three steals. She made seven of 14 field-goal tries and was one of five Pirates to have at least one three-pointer.
Rodriguez, a freshman, had 15 points and a team-best seven rebounds.
Freshman point guard Chyann Pendergrass had eight assists and three steals to go with her seven points, while freshman Sophia Guzman came off the bench to chip in nine points for the winners (6-5).
OCC has won four of its last five games heading into Friday’s semifinal against Orange Empire Conference rival Saddleback at 7:30 p.m.
The Pirates used a stifling press to further frustrate a Cuesta squad (4-8) that was missing two starters and dressed only seven players. The Cougars, from San Luis Obispo, have lost five straight and six of their last seven.
“[The Cougars] are not very good and they were missing two starters,” OCC Coach Mike Thornton said. “So we knew it was going to be that [lopsided]. I think we played hard part of the time, but not as consistently as I would have liked. But it gets to be difficult in that situation.
“At least we got a chance to play some kids who don’t play much. I think we got everyone in in the first half, which I don’t think has happened this year.”
Nine of the 11 OCC players scored, including freshman Brandi Arita, who collected her first points of the season when she drained a three-pointer with 2:54 left.
Harried by the defensive pressure, Cuesta made just one of its first seven field-goal attempts, then went more than four minutes without getting a single shot off. The Cougars netted just six points in the first quarter and only three in the third (when it made just one of nine field-goal tries).
The 41 points were the fewest by an OCC opponent this season and the fewest since a 67-39 win over Rio Hondo in 2013, a span of 63 games.
The carnage would have been greater, had Cuesta not netted three of its four three-pointers and connected on six of its 14 shots from the field against OCC substitutes in the final 10 minutes.
OCC shot 33.8% from the field, worse than the Cougars 36.4%, and the Pirates had 17 turnovers.
The Pirates posted a 42-33 rebounding advantage and had 15 assists on its 23 field goals.
OCC won the bench scoring battle, 21-2, and posted a 27-14 advantage in points off turnovers.
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Erin Tomlinson Coast Christmas Classic
First round
Orange Coast 64, Cuesta 41
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Cuesta 6 15 3 17 -- 41
OCC 15 24 16 9 – 64
Cuesta – Llaverias 11, Baeza 0, Losa 13, Kirschner 8, Ramirez 7, Flynn 2.
3-pt. goals – Llaverias 2, Ramirez 1, Losa 1.
Fouled out – Kirschner.
Technicals – Team 1.
OCC – Rodriguez 15, Little 17, Lewis 4, Pendergrass 7, Wu 0, Guzman 9, Nunes 4, Arita 3, Fink 3, Rulon 2.
3-pt. goals – Pendergrass 2, Lewis 1, Little 1, Guzman 1, Arita 1.
Fouled out – None.
Technicals – None.
