Irvine Valley women's baksetball team clinches at least share of OEC title

The Irvine Valley women's basketball team's last win at home was a special one.

The Lasers earned coach Julie Hanks her 300th victory at the school with a 55-52 overtime triumph over Saddleback last Friday.

Thursday night's home game was similarly significant.

Irvine Valley won its showdown with Cypress, 73-58, to earn at least a share of the Orange Empire Conference title.

The Lasers, ranked No. 6 in the state and fourth in Southern California, improved their record to 22-3 overall and 10-0 in conference.

Irvine Valley beat Cypress, which was ranked No. 14 in the state, for the second time in conference. The Chargers' record fell to 20-7 overall and 8-2 in conference.

Irvine Valley, which has two games to go in the regular season, can clinch the title outright next Wednesday in its home game against Santa Ana.

"We don't want to share the title so the focus will continue to be taking it one game at a time like it's been all season," said Hanks, who is in her 17th year coaching the Lasers. "We want to keep winning."

Irvine Valley, which never trailed in Thursday night's contest, jumped out to an early lead.

The game was tied, 3-3, when Irvine Valley scored the next 12 points.

IVC made its first five shots from the field, including three three-pointers.

Freshman guard Jordan Coleman made two of the three-pointers and freshman guard Tara Casey sank the other one.

The Lasers went ahead, 15-3, on a layup by Casey with 16:20 left in the first half.

IVC took its biggest lead of the first half at 17-4 on a basket by freshman forward Morgan Bryant with 13:52 left in the first half.

"We really came out firing tonight," Hanks said. "Everyone on the team was ready to play."

The Lasers were rolling despite having sophomore center Breanna Turner, IVC's leading scorer and rebounder, having to go to the bench five minutes into the game with two fouls.

Cypress got back within 17-11 on a basket by Haley Gorman with 12:02 left in the first half.

And the Chargers stayed within six points at 31-25 on another bucket by Gorman with 3:16 left in the first half.

Irvine Valley led, 36-27, at halftime.

IVC was up, 47-41, with 12:45 left in the game when Coleman was forced to the sidelines after taking a hard fall while driving to the basket.

The Lasers didn't let that slow them down, however.

Irvine Valley proceeded to score the next seven points.  A jumper by sophomore guard Karli Kato capped the run and gave Irvine Valley a 54-41 lead with 10:47 to play.

"When Jordan went down, I was really proud of how the team responded," Hanks said. "They stepped up."

Irvine Valley stretched its advantage to 60-43, on a three-pointer by Kato with 8:26 left.

Coleman re-entered the game with 7:34 remaining and helped the Lasers go up, 69-51, by making two free throws with 2:58 to go.

A layup by Turner made it 71-51 with 2:22 left on the clock.

Irvine Valley shot a solid 49.2 percent (29 of 59) as a team from the field and an even more impressive 45.0 percent (9 of 20) from three-point range.

The Lasers had four players score in double figures, led by Casey with 20 points. She added six rebounds.

Coleman finished with 17 points, Turner added 14 points and six rebounds and Kato had 13 points.

Casey, Coleman and Kato combined to go 9 of 14 from three-point range with Casey making 4 of 6.

Freshman point guard Erika Mercado has seven rebounds and dished out seven assists as Irvine Valley had 19 assists on its 29 made baskets.

Cypress, which shot 31.6 percent (18 of 57) from the field, was paced by Haley Gorman with 17 points and 13 rebounds. Lauren Hong finished with 11 points and Jeana Magana had eight points and 11 rebounds for the Chargers.