STATE BOUND (again)! Pirates rout Coyotes in Sweet 16

COSTA MESA -- The Orange Coast College women's basketball team put on a championship-like performance in all facets of the game and earned a third straight trip to the "big dance" by routing visiting Cerro Coso, 86-36 in Round 3 of the Southern California Regional Playoffs on Saturday night inside the Peterson Gym.

With the win, the top-seeded Pirates (25-4) will look to defend their back-to-back state titles at the 3C2A Women's Basketball State Championships, where they will open state quarterfinal play against Folsom Lake on Friday (time to be determined) at Mt. San Antonio College.

With the loss, the 8th-seeded Coyotes (24-6) saw their magical return to the women's basketball scene after a decade-long absence end in the State Sweet 16, but not before leaving their mark on this year's women's basketball scene. 

In one of the best defensive performances of the season, the Pirates held the state's third-highest scoring team (81 points per game heading into Saturday's game) to just 36 points, the lowest point total of their season (previous low ... 41 vs. Mt. SAC on Dec. 5). The Coast defense clamped down from the opening whistle and forced 26 Coyote turnovers, the most in one game for them since their season opener against San Joaquin Delta (27). 

"Our girls were so locked in," OCC head coach Sammy Doucette said. "I'm so proud of them ... so unbelievably proud of them."

On a night with several stars for the Pirates, Hailey Estrada picked a great night for her best performance, scoring a game-high 29 points to go along with nine assists, five steals and four rebounds. The sophomore ended her career at the Peterson Gym by shooting 9-of-14 from the floor, 9-12 from the free-throw line and even nailed a pair of 3's to cap off her evening. "Hailey is so dialed in right now," Doucette said of Estrada. "She has bounced around from starter to 6th man. She earned her starting role recently again and she has delivered. She is doing everything needs to be done for us."

Another MVP-like defensive performance came from sophomore center Alyssa Dreessen. While she scored 10 points and grabbed nine rebounds, she did a stellar job of slowing down Cerro Coso's top scorer, Shaniyah McCarthy, who was the Inland Empire Athletic Conference's Most Valuable Player, averaging 19 points and 11 rebounds per game. McCarthy was held to just nine points through the first three quarters and finished with 16 points and seven rebounds to go along with seven turnovers.

"Alyssa was a stud for us tonight," Doucette said. "Shaniyah is really good and Alyssa made it a living hell for her out there. I'm so proud of her and our entire team's defensive effort."

Melaiah Joseph added 20 points and eight rebounds for OCC, while Zoie Lamkin chipped in 14 points. Myia Collins had another solid all-around game with six points, 12 rebounds and six assists.

Midway through the first quarter, Cerro Coso showed no effects from the 3-hour bus ride from Ridgecrest and used their tough fullcourt press to their advantage, forcing some early OCC turnovers and grabbing an 11-6 advantage.

"Handling their press was a little rocky at first because we hadn't seen one in a while," Doucette said. "But once we remembered how to break a press, we were good to go."

Just about the time the Pirates settled down with their offense, their defense found another gear and Coast ripped off the next 20 points, holding the Coyotes scoreless until midway through the SECOND quarter ... a point-free span that lasted nearly 8 1/2 minutes of clock time.

The lead continued to grow from there and the Pirates carried a 36-18 lead into the second half.

After leading 14-11 after the first quarter, OCC outscored Cerro Coso, 72-25. 

The final stats showed a Coyote dismantling that Bugs Bunny, the Roadrunner and ACME Co. would've been proud of ... 

The Pirate defense held Cerro Cosso to 15-of-55 shooting from the floor, 3-of-21 from 3-point land and Coast outscored the Coyotes 42-16 in the paint. Cerro Coso's 26 turnovers led to a 30-7 advantage in points off of turnovers and OCC's biggest lead came in the final seconds of the game.

Meanwhile, the OCC offense clicked on all cylinders ... shooting 45.7% from the floor (32-of-70) with eight made 3-pointers. Just for good measure, the streaky OCC free-throw shooting was above par as well as Coast went 14-of-17 (82.4%) from the line. Coast led in rebounding 48-32, dished out 18 assists, earned a 15-2 edge on second-chance points and minimized their mistakes. Cerro Coso, who averaged 15.8 steals per game, had nine against the Pirates.