Pirates, Coyotes prep for State Sweet 16 Showdown

COSTA MESA -- A third consecutive trip to the "big dance" is on the line for the Orange Coast College women's basketball team as the Pirates host Cerro Coso College on Saturday night inside the Peterson Gym in the third round of the Southern California Regional Playoffs.

It will be a stiff challenge for the back-to-back state champs, as the top-seeded Pirates (24-5) play host to the No. 8-seeded Coyotes (24-5), a program that did not exist a year ago and earned its first-ever playoff win last week against L.A. Valley College, 72-61.

"This group has faced more adversity than any team I've coached," OCC head coach Sammy Doucette said. "We've got two freshman studs who haven't played a single game this year due to season-ending injuries back in September. I've got two freshmen starting on a back-to-back state championship squad that have been expected to play like sophomores all year. Our conference got better and our bench got less deep. Our ninth player is last year's team manager, whom we asked to suit up this year just so we could have more bodies. Not to mention, our schedule gets tougher each year and the target on our back gets bigger."

Step one on the Pirates' quest back to Mt. San Antonio College (site of this year's State Championship), was a convincing 79-55 win over Orange Empire Conference rival Irvine Valley College on Saturday. Coast blew the Lasers away early and never led them back into the game with one of the best all-around performances of the season. FIVE different OCC players reach double-figures in scoring (Zoie Lamkin led the way with 19 points), Alyssa Dreessen earned a double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds and Myia Collins notched a triple-double with 16 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists.

"I loved everything I saw last week from my group," Doucette said. "They were the most dialed in on defense that I've seen in a while. They moved the ball well on offense and let things come to them. They played with great pace and were selfless. I couldn't be more proud of them."

Coast outworked the Lasers on the glass (46-37 rebounding edge), on defense (19 IVC turnovers to OCC's 12) and on second-chance points (19-5), earning a 34-point lead in the fourth quarter at one point.

OCC's six-pack of quality players gives Doucette and the Pirates lots of options and lots of headaches for the opposition. Lamkin lead the squad in scoring at 13.3 points per game, followed by Dreessen (13.2), Melaiah Joseph (13.2), Collins (11.3), Hailey Estrada (9.4) and Kayla Borgelt (7.8). It's one thing to stop one star player ... it's quite another to try and silence six players who have all scored at least 20 points in a game this year.

Collins (9.9 rebounds per game), Dreessen (8.6 rpg) and Joseph (6.2 rpg) anchor the boards, but it will take collective effort to limit a Coyotes squad who averages +16 on the boards against their opposition this year.

After topping their conference neighbor, the Pirates now face an unknown squad from Ridgecrest in the Cerro Coso College Coyotes. After reviving the program after nearly a decade of inactivity, the Coyotes and head coach Keshawn Johnson became the feel-good story of the 2024-25 season. After winning 7-of-8 to start the season, Cerro Coso went 13-3 in the Inland Empire Athletic Conference and enter tonight's contest winners of their last six games.

IEAC Player of the Year, Shaniyah McCarthy has paced the Coyotes this year in most facets of the game. The 5'9 sophomore guard is averaging 19.1 points, 10.2 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 2.0 steals per game for Cerro Coso. Over her past four games, she has averaged 23.7 points and 10 rebounds per game.

"Shaniyah is a stud," Doucette said. "She's very good and unlike any player we've seen, at least in our most recent games. But she's not alone, so it won't be about just trying to stop just her. It'll be about trying to stop all of them, and it'll be a challenge for sure."

In last week's win over L.A. Valley, McCarthy led the the way with 22 points and 11 rebounds, but to Doucette's point, Lia Sims added 16 points and Alexis Staton added 12 points and six rebounds. Another player to watch for is freshman guard Savannah Rowland, who averages 12.7 points and a team-best 4.8 assists and 3.6 steals per game.

Cerro Coso comes into Saturday night's game as the third-leading scoring team in the state at 81 points per game. Only Sequoias (88 ppg) and Laney (84.6 ppg) have scored more. OCC comes in 13th in the state at 71.6 points per game.

The winner of Saturday's game will play again at Mt. San Antonio College in the State Elite Eight on Friday night, March. 14.