3C2A Women's Basketball Semifinal #2: Orange Coast rallies past Moorpark to return to state final

(WALNUT) -- For 32 minutes, South #1 seed Moorpark took control of its 3C2A Women's Basketball Championship semifinal v. South #3 Orange Coast. But trailing by 14 points, the defending state champion Pirates grabbed the momentum and carried it to a 62-55 victory on Saturday afternoon. OCC will play in its second straight state title game on Sunday v. South #2 Glendale.  

OCC (29-3) fell behind 50-36 before starting a momentous run to take its first lead since early in the game at 56-55 on a 3-point bomb by Bridgett McIntyre with 0:44 seconds left. The Pirates added six free throws, four by Sabrina Lopez in the last 30 seconds to put the final stamp on the comeback. 

The Pirates extended their win streak to 19 games while ending Moopark's 23-game string. The Raiders season ended at 28-4. 

"I kept telling our players you might think the game was over, but it's not over," said OCC head coach Sammy Doucette on the Pirates miraculous comeback. "We kept playing hard on defense and forced some shot clock violations. I've been waiting for Sabrina Lopez to have a monster game and this was it as she is such a gifted athlete."

Coming off the Pirates' bench, Lopez scored 14 of her game-high 25 points in the fourth quarter. She drained four 3-pointers and was 8-for-13 from the field. She added nine rebounds and keyed the defense with four steals. None was bigger than her steal following a Moorpark timeout, up three with 25 tics remaining. 

Orange Coast avenged a 51-50 defeat v. Moorpark on Dec. 28 at the East Los Angeles Okawa Classic. 

For OCC, Ashari Cassell scored 15 points with four assists and McIntyre tallied six of her 12 points in the fourth period. All four of her baskets were from long distance. 

For Moorpark, Rebecca Saidoff scored 17 points, making 5-for-10 from 3-point range, while adding seven rebounds. Mika Jarrett had a big effort with 16 points and Success Prysock pulled down 13 rebounds with four points. 

"To win this game we had to execute on the rebound and it got away from us because OCC got a second chance and we kept giving them life," said Moorpark head coach Kenny Plummer. "The game just got away from us. 

"I'm not going to let this one loss define us or the season, but it's a tough one to swallow because we were definitely in position to win it."

Orange Coast led 13-4 on a Lopez layup before Moorpark scored the final nine points of the first quarter to tie it on a Jarrett jumper. In the second period. Prysock's layup finished a stretch of five lead changes for a 22-20 Moorpark lead. Keilani Perata's basket upped the Raiders lead to 31-23 by halftime. 

In the third quarter, Moorpark and OCC traded baskets but it culminated on another Peralta layup as the Raiders continued to lead at 45-36. Moorpark's last hurrah was a Saidoff bomb followed by a basket by Calista Arzaga that gave the Raiders their biggest lead at 50-36. 

Little did they know, Orange Coast would refuse to quit and snatched the win away from Moorpark. 

Release by Robert Lewis, 3C2A State Tourney Women's Basketball SID/CCCWBCA Publicist