Team effort allows Pirates to slip past Rustlers

The Orange Coast College women's basketball team showed the depth of its program on Wednesday night as the Pirates overcame career nights from multiple Golden West players and held back the Rustlers, 92-86 on Wednesday night inside the Peterson Gym.

After beating the Rustlers at GWC by 44 points (98-54) back on Jan. 12, Round 2 was a completely different story as underdog Golden West gave the state's fourth-ranked Pirates everything they could handle. GWC managed to get up 21 more shots than the Pirates thanks in large part to dominating the offensive glass on missed shots. 

Coast used its bench to its advantage on a night were some starters had rare off-nights. Bridgette McIntyre led all OCC scorers with 20 points and seven rebounds. Sabrina Lopez came off the bench and added 19 points and eight rebounds. Fellow reserves Kiley Esajian had a solid shooting night with 11 points, including 3-for-3 from downtown and Hailey Estrada added 10 points and four assists.

For the Rustlers, their big three of Ty Adams, Kayla Terry and Princess McCauley did not disappoint. Adams and Terry each had 28 points and McCauley added 24, accounting for 80 of OCC's 86 points. However, the rest of the Rustler squad shot a combined 3-of-17 from the floor.

The first quarter was a track meet for both teams. GWC worked through OCC's press for easy baskets, but the Pirates were not missing either and at the end of the first quarter, Coast had a 36-25 advantage. Both teams combined to shoot an eye-popping 68% from the floor (23-of-34), with OCC hitting 6-of-8 from 3-point range.

Things settled down a bit for both teams and at the half, Coast was leading 56-41. It was a matter of time before OCC would pull away from the Rustlers, but GWC would hang around all the way to the finish line. The Pirate reserves saw a ton of time in the third quarter, with Esajian lead everyone with points in the quarter, with Lopez close behind with six. Coast carried a 79-67 lead into the final quarter and it appeared that the host squad would roll to victory once again.

But the Rustlers had other plans. GWC went on a 16-4 run to start the fourth quarter and with just under 4 minutes remaining, Coast found itself in an 83-83 deadlock.

With 2:30 left and the score still tied at 83, McIntyre hit the shot of the night, draining a 3-pointer and getting fouled on the play. She made the free throw, putting Coast up 87-83, and from there the Pirates would hold on.

McCauley hit a trey with 45 second left to make it a one-possession game at 89-86, but a made free throw from Myia Collins and two more made FTs from McIntyre would ice the game and OCC's 20th win of the season.

With the win, Coast remains two games up in Irvine Valley atop the OEC standings. 

OCC returns to action on Friday at Cypress College, beginning at 7 p.m. OCC's next home game will take place on Thursday, Feb. 15 against Santa Ana, also at 7 p.m.

Release by Tony Altobelli, Orange Coast