Pirates drop final pair at Cypress tournament

CYPRESS -- The Orange Coast College women's basketball team opened with a win at the Cypress College Lady Charger Classic before dropping the final two games this past weekend.

Coast (6-3) opened strong with an 88-74 win over Grossmont on Day 1. OCC used a 34-16 second quarter to carry a comfortable 51-29 lead into halftime. From there the Pirates cruised to victory and advanced to the championship semifinals. 

Michelle Wu (seven assists) and Elizabeth Sakamoto (10 rebounds) each had 15 points for Coast, while Danielle Obong came off the bench to provide 14 points and four assists.

It was a different story in the semifinals against Palomar as the Comets rolled to a 77-44 win. Palomar's relentless press defense was too much for the Pirates as Palomar (8-2) forced 25 OCC turnovers and led 48-18 at the half.

Sakamoto had 13 points on 6-of-7 shooting for Coast, while Megan McCullough and Sydney Driggs each added seven points off of the bench.

That dropped the Pirates to the third-place game, where they played host Cypress. There, the Chargers overcame an early deficit to prevail, 81-76.

Coast led 23-9 in the first quarter before the Chargers (6-2) came alive and began to chip away into the deficit. 

Cypress drew even with OCC at 50-50 with 5:10 left in the third quarter before finishing the quarter on a 14-4 run to grab the lead.

Coast fought back and pulled even at 75 on a 3-pointer by McCullough with 2:57 left in the game. But the Pirates were held to just one made free throw the rest of the way as the Chargers used a made layup and two made free throws by Bianca Silva to pull away for good.

McCullough led the way with 20 points, making 6-of-8 from the field, including 4-of-5 from 3-point ranger and 4-of-5 from the free-throw line. Sakamoto added 16 points, while Jenna Miramontez hit three 3-pointers on her way to nine points. 

The Pirates will return to action on Thursday against Rio Hondo at the Irvine Valley College Tournament, beginning at 4 p.m.