Pirates end season with win over Hornets
COSTA MESA -- After an up-and-down season of shooting, the Orange Coast College women's basketball team ended the season strong with a 72-59 Orange Empire Conference win over visiting Fullerton on Friday night inside the Peterson Gym.
The Pirates (13-15, 4-8) hit nine 3-pointers en route to the win and shot a 30-of-63 from the floor. The Coast defense held the Hornets (6-20, 2-10) to just 48 shots, forcing 17 turnovers and 35.4 percent shooting from the floor (17-of-48).
Five different players reached double figures for the evenly-balanced Pirate offense, led by Jenna Arnett and Caitlin Bunting, who each had 14 points. Dayanara Armenta and Michelle Angel each added 11 points, while Jessica Johnson chipped in 10 to go along with nine rebounds.
For the Hornets, Andrya Ventra led the offense with 18 points and seven rebounds. Stephanie Drayer added 13, while Amber Washington contributed 10 to go along with eight rebounds.
The turning point of the game came in the final seconds of the first half. After a layup by Laura Curiel cut OCC's lead down to three at 31-28, Bunting took the in-bounds pass, raced up the floor and drained a half-court three-pointer at the buzzer, putting the Pirates up 34-28 at the half.
Coast continued to drain treys to open the second half, hitting three in a row to take a 40-28 lead. OCC hit 16-of-32 from the floor in the second half including 5 3-pointers and led by as many as 21 points.
The win was a nice send-off for OCC's four sophomores, Johnson, Arnett, Angel and Jalecia Wilson, who played their final game of the season in a Pirate uniform.
