Pirates prepare for familiar foe in playoff opener

COSTA MESA -- The Orange Coast College women's basketball will hope that the fourth time is the charm as the Pirates travel to Escondido to take on Palomar College in the opening round of the Southern California Regional playoffs. Tip-off is set for Friday night at 7 p.m.

The bracket-makers at the CCCAA didn't do the 12th-seeded Pirates (17-13) any favors as the No. 5 Comets come in with a record of 25-2 and winners of 17 straight games, winning with the Pacific Coast Conference's North Division with a perfect 8-0 record.

Coast, which has dropped four straight and finished fourth in the Orange Empire Conference, has been battling the injury bug for most of this season and will head into Friday's matchup without the services of two key players -- Elizabeth Sakamoto and Sydney Driggs.

However, it's not all doom and gloom for the Pirates, who head to the postseason for the 23rd time in 28 seasons.

Leading the way for OCC is sophomore guard Michelle Wu, who paced the offense by averaging 13.4 points per game. Wu enters Friday night's matchup with 16 straight games where she's scored in double figures and has averaged 17.4 points over that span.

From there, the Pirates need to rely on big contributions from a variety of players in order to find success, including sophomores Chyann Pendergrass (9.6 points, 5.1 rebounds, 5.8 assists per game), Danielle Obong (8.1 points, 3.2 rebounds, 2.3 assists per game) and Megan McCullough (7.0 points, 5.0 rebounds per game).

The Pirates and Comets have already seen each other three other times this year and so far, it's been Palomar with the decided advantage. In those three matchups, the average margin of victory for the Comets has been 34 points per game, including a 98-53 Palomar win in their last meeting back on Dec. 21.

Palomar enters Friday's playoff matchup clicking on all cylinders. The Comets have the third-best offense in the state (88.6 points per game) and are No. 1 in team defense, allowing a state-low 46 points per game.

The Comets' strength is in their numbers with eight players averaging more than eight points per game, including sophomore Ariana Hernandez and freshman Monica Todd, who both average 12.1 points per game to lead the way. Freshman Kendall Crosby (10.1 points/game) and sophomore Roshell Lamug (10 points/game) are close behind, while the foursome of Cheyenne Ertz (8.5 PPG), Regina Sheffield (8.2 PPG), Nia De La Pena-Thompson (8.1 PPG) and Christina Ellis (8.1 PPG) give head coach (and former OCC player and assistant coach) Leigh Marshall plenty of weapons at her disposal.

This season, Palomar has out-rebounded its opponents by an average of 19 boards per game and have averaged more than 14 steals per game, all while turning the ball over eight fewer times per game than the opposition.

The winner of Friday night's matchup will face the winner of the No. 4 Cypress vs. No. 13 Moorpark matchup on Saturday, March 4.