Defending champs open playoff run on Saturday

COSTA MESA -- Now the fun REALLY begins for the defending state champion Orange Coast College women's basketball team as they look for another climb to the top of the mountain for the 2023-24 season. The Pirates' first steps begin on Saturday against East Los Angeles College at 7 p.m. inside OCC's Peterson Gym.

It will be a familiar foe returning to the Peterson Gym on Saturday as the No. 4-seeded Pirates (25-3) and 13th-seeded Huskies (13-16) have met twice before already this season. On Nov. 11, the Pirates topped ELAC 68-60 at the Moorpark College Tournament and repeated the feat Dec. 30 at ELAC, 72-55.

The 12/30 win over the Huskies snapped a rare losing skid by the Pirates (two games) and kick-started their current 15-game win streak that saw Coast go a perfect 14-0 through the Orange Empire Conference. 

"It was right around that time that we decided to change up the kind of basketball we wanted to play and from there, we've really found another gear," OCC head coach Sammy Doucette said. "I'm so proud of these girls. Early on, we needed to figure out how to handle the 'pressure' of being the defending champs and finding our own identity. Now, we are playing some of our best basketball of the season and the girls are really having a lot of fun as a team."

Over this 15-game winning streak, Coast has outscored the opposition by an average score of 87-51, topping the 90-point mark nine times. 

Sophomore Bridgette McIntyre has been the offensive catalyst for the Pirates this year. the OEC Player of the Year enters Saturday's game averaging 18.8 points and 5.8 rebounds per game. She's fifth in the state in 3-pointers made (98), sixth in the state in 3-point shooting percentage (43%) and 14th in the state with 527 points scored.

Freshman Ashari Cassell -- this year's OEC Offensive Player of the Year -- has been the floor general for Coast this year, averaging 14.1 points, 4.4 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game, while the conference's Defensive Player of the Year, Alyssa Dreessen, led the conference with 48 blocks and 57 steals and is averaging nearly seven rebounds per game this year after a slow start. 

Joining McIntyre from 3-point land is sophomore Jordan Arreola, who averages 11.7 points per game and off the bench, sophomore Sabrina Lopez could be the "X-factor" in all this for the Pirates, averaging 12 points and seven rebounds per game with the potential to bring even more to the squad. 

All four of these point-getters can lead the club on any given night, while Dreessen and Myia Collins (six points, seven rebounds/game) do the board work down low and earn their points in the paint.

With so many weapons in OCC's arsenal, freshman guard Hailey Estrada is sometimes forgotten about, but she has picked the best time to play her best basketball of the season, averaging 12 points a game over the last seven played.

As for the visiting Huskies, early in the season, a playoff berth was FAR from the minds of ELAC nation as they opened the season 4-0, but then dropped 12 of 13 games against some tough nonconference opponents.

But ELAC turned things around a bit and finished the season with wins in 12 of the last 16 games, including a 93-78 win over College of the Canyons in the opening round of the SoCal Regional Playoffs on Wednesday.

In that way over the Cougars, standout Lupe Vazquez had a game for the ages, scoring 49 points on 16-of-27 shooting, including 7-of-13 from 3-point range and 10-of-12 from the free-throw line. She enters Saturday's playoff game averaging 22.9 points, 6.1 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game, joining Cassell and McIntyre on this year's First-team, All-State squad.

Vasquez averaged 24 points and 7.5 rebounds per game against the Pirates in ELAC's previous two meetings.

Sophomore Makaia Smith (12.7 points, 5.8 rebounds/game) and freshman Asia Harris (12.3 points, 9.2 rebounds/game) help give the Huskies added depth on both sides of the floor.

The winner of Saturday's match, will take on the winner of the Mt. San Jacinto/Citrus game in the Southern California Regional Final on Saturday, March 9 at 7 p.m.