Irvine Valley Tops Rancho Santiago

Irvine Valley and Rancho Santiago met in what was supposed to be an Orange Empire Conference women’s basketball showdown featuring two of the better teams in the state.

Instead, Irvine Valley won, 64-49, in a game that was over almost as soon as it began.

Irvine Valley, ranked fifth in the state, opened a 20-2 lead in the first 11 minutes and 14th-ranked Rancho Santiago spent the rest of the game trying to recover.

The Lasers (15-5, 2-0) spread the scoring around with eight players scoring in the first half and 10 in the game. Seven of the 10 had at least six points.

The Dons, who don’t have nearly the bench strength of the Lasers, had only four players score in the first half and five in the game.

The Dons (16-4, 3-1) have only eight players on their roster compared to Irvine Valley’s 12.

“We made the decision to [use] the bench,” Irvine Valley Coach Lisa McNamee said. “We really rock-and-rolled them in and out. At the end, we wore them down.”

Any slim comeback hopes for Rancho Santiago were dashed when guard Chanel Neal fouled out with 11 minutes 38 seconds left in the game.

Pauline McGee, another Rancho Santiago starter, fouled out with 3:18 left.

The Dons also struggled at the free-throw line, making 10 of 30, including three of 15 in the first half. Alison Carr had 11 points and Heather Cunningham had 10 points and 11 rebound for the Lasers, who were leading at the break, 34-16.

Irvine Valley dominated the game inside, outrebounding the Dons, 61-25.

Antoinette Thompson had 20 points, 17 of which came in the second half, for thee Dons.

In other conference games:

Cypress 52, Orange Coast 39--Holly Pawloswski scored 15 points for visiting Cypress (15-5, 1-1).

Fullerton 88, Riverside 53--Paola Flores had 24 points and 14 rebounds for Fullerton (13-8, 2-1).