Pirates crash the boards and win big over visiting Dons
COSTA MESA -- Using their size advantage down low, the Orange Coast College women's basketball team controlled the glass all night long and pounded their way to a 68-50 win over visiting Santa Ana on Wednesday night inside the Peterson Gym.
With a 63-45 edge in overall rebounds and a dominating 25-6 margin on the offensive glass, the Pirates (10-10, 1-3 in Orange Empire Conference) used second and third opportunities to find some much-needed offensive success in the second half.
After a ragged 23-17 first-half performance for both teams, Coast extended its lead right away and never let up, preventing the Dons (8-12, 0-4) from getting back into the game.
Jenna Arnett was the "chairperson of the boards", so to speak, for the Pirates, with a team-best 14 rebounds to go along with 15 points. Raechelle Davis added eight points and 13 rebounds off of the bench, while Michelle Angel notched 10 boards to go along with eight points.
Dayanara Armenta led all Pirate scorers with 16 points, while Jessica Johnson added 11 points and seven rebounds.
Santa Ana used the hot shooting hand of Ashley Whisler for most of the game as she led the Dons with 24 points, including five three-pointers. Kelly Smit added 13 points, while the rest of the team scored just 13 points on 5-of-39 shooting (12.8 percent).
As a team, Santa Ana was held to just 26 percent shooting (19-of-73) the entire night and was just 6-of-28 from 3-point range.
OCC will return to action on Wednesday at Cypress College, beginning at 5:30 p.m. Coast's next home game will be on Friday, Feb. 1 against Saddleback, beginning at 7:30 p.m.
