Pirates return to form with 68-61 win at Riverside

RIVERSIDE -- The Orange Coast College women's basketball team jumped back into the win column on Wednesday night as the Pirates topped Riverside City College, 68-61.

Just a few days after their 20-game win streak was snapped by Santa Ana College, the No. 3-ranked Pirates (21-1, 5-1 in the Orange Empire Conference), returned to their winning formula against the 19th-ranked Tigers (16-6, 3-3). 

Gabby Samiy led the offensive charge for Coast with 22 points and five rebounds, while Meghan McIntyre added to her storybook season with her second triple double of the season, scoring 16 points, grabbing 11 rebounds and dishing out 12 assists.

Karina Cabrera not only contributed 11 points for the OCC offense, but she played lockdown defense and finished with four steals and forced numerous RCC turnovers. 

For the Tigers, N'Dya Parks had 18 points, while Maxine Najera and Makayla Roberts each added 11 points.

Coast came out flat in the start of the first quarter but found another gear as the quarter went on and after the opening 10 minutes, the Pirates led, 20-17.

An 11-2 run kicked off the second quarter for OCC, giving the Pirates a 31-19 advantage, but Riverside would end the first half with a 15-9 of its own and trailed at the break, 40-34.

The lead was seven after three quarters (53-46), but the Tigers would make things dicey for the Pirates as they used an 11-6 run to get within two at 59-57 with just over three minutes remaining in the game.

But clutch 3-pointers by Cabrera and Noelle Duffey pushed the OCC advantage back up to eight at 65-57 with 1:33 left and a pair of McIntyre made free throws pushed the lead up to 10 (67-57) with 30 seconds left to ice the game. McIntyre struggled with her shooting, but found success from the foul line where she collected 10 of her 16 points for the night (10-of-11).

With the win, Coast remains atop of the OEC standings, along with Cypress (17-5, 5-1) with Irvine Valley (16-6, 4-2) just one loss behind. 

OCC will host the Lasers on Friday night inside the Peterson Gym, beginning at 5 p.m.