Comets, Marshall take down Pirates

The Palomar College women’s basketball team is inaptly named the Comets. With a relentless 12-player rotation that hounds the ball and pounds the glass with abandon and determination, Coach Leigh Marshall’s squad resembles a natural phenomenon more akin to waves.

Palomar continually broke over host Orange Coast College on Saturday to earn an 80-68 victory in the title game of the Erin Tomlinson Coast Christmas Classic.

“I felt like we played really, really hard most of the time,” OCC Coach Mike Thornton, in his 27th season, said. “But Palomar is a better reacting team. We watch, and they don’t. [The Comets] are really, really good at the style they play and I have not seen a coach at this level that gets their players to play as consistently hard as [Marshall] does.

It was the second straight Coast Christmas Classic title for Palomar (10-2), which Marshall, who played and coached at OCC after playing across the street at Costa Mesa High, has molded into one of the state’s best programs. Palomar is the first repeat champion since OCC won the event three straight seasons (1998, 1999 and 2000).

But while OCC (7-6) had to settle for runner-up status, making it eight seasons since it last won its own tournament, Thornton said there was plenty about which to be encouraged.

“I was happy that though we were down twice, we made comebacks in both halves,” Thornton said. “We didn’t quit and I feel like we made a lot of progress. We’re going in the right direction, but we have people who need to keep improving.”

An 8-2 run early helped OCC gain a 10-5 advantage and the Pirates led, 14-10, midway through the first quarter.

But Palomar put together a 13-0 burst spanning the first and second periods and forged another 10-0 run between the end of the first half and the start of the second on its way to a 49-30 advantage with 7:10 left in the third quarter.

But OCC, which posted seven of its nine three-pointers after halftime, kept coming. The Pirates whittled the deficit to eight before Palomar scored the final four points of the contest.

OCC freshman Jenna Rodriguez amassed 17 points and 15 rebounds to claim all-tournament honors. It was her fifth double-double of the season.

OCC freshman point guard Chyann Pendergrass had 16 points and five assists to also earn all-tournament recognition.

Sophomore Sami Little added nine points, five assists and five rebounds for the Pirates, who had 22 of the game’s 35 turnovers and lost the rebounding battle, 43-42.

OCC made half of its second-half three-point tries, but other than Rodriguez, struggled to covert inside.

Palomar had a 56-26 advantage on points in the paint and continually was quicker to the spot and the ball to create layup and put-back opportunities.

Freshman guard Roshell Lamug, the tournament MVP, had 14 points to lead the Palomar starters, who were outscored by the reserves, 45-35.

Quinesha Vanhook (18 points on nine-for-15 shooting, mostly from inside) and Chelse Ayala (nine points and four assists), both of whom began the game on the bench, were additional all-tournament performers for Palomar, which has won seven of its last eight games.

OCC plays in the Ventura tournament, Dec. 28-30, before opening Orange Empire Conference play at home against Cypress on Jan. 6.

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Coast Christmas Classic

Championship game

Palomar 80, Orange Coast 68

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Palomar 20 22 18 20 – 80

OCC 14 14 20 20 – 68

Pal – Sheffield 9, Ertz 6, Shannon 4, Lamug 14, Navarro 2, Vanhook 18, Ayala 9, Barnes 6, Hernandez 5, Troxell 5, Perryman 2.

3-pt. goals – Lamug 2, Ayala 2, Hernandez 1.

Fouled out – None.

Technicals – None.

OCC – Rodriguez 17, Lewis 5, Little 9, Pendergrass 16, Wu 6, Nunes 8, Guzman 7.

3-pt. goals – Pendergrass 3, Nunes 2, Wu 1, Little 1, Lewis 1, Guzman 1.

Fouled out – Nunes.

Technicals – None.