Pirates host L.A. Trade Tech in playoff opener

COSTA MESA -- The Orange Coast College women's basketball team has returned to the postseason for the fifth consecutive season and the Pirates will host L.A. Trade Tech in the second round of the Southern California Regional playoffs on Saturday night, inside the Peterson Gym, beginning at 7 p.m.

After earning a first-round bye, the fourth-seeded Pirates (20-8) will host the 13th-seeded Beavers (20-9) after they topped Victor Valley, 64-53, on Wednesday night in an opening-round playoff matchup.

"Trade tech is long, athletic, and has some good size," OCC head coach Sammy Doucette said. "They play a lot of zone and will trap out of it.  It'll be a very good challenge for us."

After a struggling stretch of offense, the Pirates found their groove in their last game of the season, when they went to Saddleback College and wrapped up Orange Empire Conference play with a 77-68 win over the host Bobcats. After starting the season with nine different 70-point performances over their first 16 games of the season, OCC's 77 points against the Bobcats was just the second one of those over the past 11 games.

In that win, Andrea Rico led the way with 22 points and seven rebounds, with Lexi Mercado (17 points, 12-of-12 free throws) and Bianca Carter (14 points, four 3-pointers) each found their own ways to bring solid numbers to the win.

"The last two weeks, we have been emphasizing shot selection and swinging the ball," Doucette said. "I like the way our team looks when we take good shots and it doesn't stick in one player's hands for too long. Additionally, we've been emphasizing paint touches and passes to the post. The more we can play inside-to-outside, the more things will open up for us. I've liked the way we looked on offense the last couple of games. We can't control the ball going in, but we can control the type of shots we get and how much the ball moves, and we have done that great lately. We need to keep that rolling."

Sophomore Melaiah Joseph has led the Pirate offense this year, averaging 14.2 points per game, followed closely by Rico (10.1) and fellow freshman McKenzie Gillman (10.0). Rico, a first-team, All-OEC selection for the Pirates, also led the squad in rebounding (5.9 per game), with Nicole Uballe (5.3/game) and Sydney Sloan (4.4/game) adding to the board depth.

The Pirate defense has been one of the tops at creating turnovers, forcing 18.3 per game, allowing for easy, transition baskets the other way, something that the Pirates will have to do against a LATTC team that averages 17.3 turnovers per game.

Trade Tech's top scorers include a pair of sophomores -- Athieng Bol and Niela Williams. Bol ranks fifth in the state among all scorers, averaging 20.4 points per game. She scored a season-high 41 points in a 77-39 win over Lassen College back on Dec. 12 and in the Beavers' playoff win over Victor Valley, she dropped 30 points to go along with six steals. 

Williams is averaging just over 11 points per game, including a season-best 24 points against Pasadena City College on Jan. 23. 

The winner of Saturday's matchup will face the winner of the Palomar/MiraCosta game next weekend for a spot in this year's 3C2A Women's Basketball State Championship Tournament, which takes place March 12, 14-15 at College of the Sequoias.