State's Best Shine at ELAC's Okawa Classic

by Cerwin D Haynes

(photos by Henry Caceres and Mario Villegas)

The 12th year of the Okawa Classic - East LA College women's basketball annual tournament/showcase - has just wrapped up, hosting some of the best basketball the state. With four teams within the CCCWBCA State top-10 participating over the past three days, head coach Bruce Turner was able to host arguably his strongest field of participation in the Classic's history. 

A quick review of the scores from all three days of action:

Day One (12/28)

• LA Southwest 88, Oxnard 58
  • Rostering only five players, the Cougars dominated the glass (63 rebounds to 35) and outshot the Condors 43.2% to 34.4%. Southwest outscored Oxnard 51-24 over the second and third quarters.
• #1 Butte 97, SBVC 40
  • The Roadrunners shot 50.7% from the field en route to dominating all facets of the opening game. Full recap here.
• #5 Palomar 93, ELAC 58
  • Dominance on the offensive glass by the Comets combined with 16-41 from downtown scorched the home Green's defense. ELAC only shot 31.1% from the field.
• #6 Moorpark 51, #3 Orange Coast 50
  • Disguised by the narrow victory is the fact Moorpark lead throughout the contest, leading by as many as 14 points in the first half and by seven points to start the fourth quarter. OCC G Bridgette McIntyre was fouled on a three-point attempt with two seconds left in the game, her Pirates trailing the Raiders 51-48. Needing to make all three free throws to tie the game, she missed the first one, and that proved to be the decisive point as Moorpark gets a big win over the reigning state champs.

Day Two (12/29)

• SBVC 89, LA Southwest 49
  • The Cougars playing with the bare minimum came back to bite them unfortunately. Nine minutes into the game, Brooklyn McCray had to leave the court with a head injury. This forced Southwest to play 4-on-5 the rest of the way.
• Golden West 102, Oxnard 56
  • Making their lone appearance in the Classic, the Rustlers made their mark emphatically in the second quarter where they outscored the Condors 34-6. Eleven offensive rebounds fueled a 15-28 Rustlers' shooting mark for the quarter, compared to just 2-11 shooting for the Condors.
• #6 Moorpark 65, ELAC 47
  • The Pack couldn't keep up with the Raiders, as Moorpark outscored ELAC 38-23 in the first half. Moorpark simply relied on their methodical half-court offense in the second half to control the game.
• #1 Butte 76, #3 Orange Coast 67
  • The heavyweight rematch many were waiting to see, as both teams battled it out last March in the State Championship game. This time, the state runners-up outlasted the defending champs: the Roadrunners shot 50% from the field, overcoming a 23-12 Pirate advantage on the offensive glass. If you missed this classic, you can catch it here courtesy of SportsNetUSA.net.

Day Three (12/29)

(note: due to Southwest not having enough players, the Moorpark/LA Southwest 12noon game was cancelled)

• #1 Butte 105, Oxnard 36
  • Not letting up off the gas pedal after their big win the night before, the Roadrunners ran roughshod over the Condors. Butte owned the glass with a 65-23 rebounding advantage, and went into halftime up 48-18.
• SBVC 73, LA Harbor 72 - 2OT
  • A tight, back-and-forth affair saw Harbor - making their lone appearance in the Classic - at the free throw line with two seconds left in a tie ballgame (60-60). But G Akilah Watson missed both free throws to send the game into the first overtime.
  • In the second overtime, the Wolverines were down one, 72-71, when G Marilynn Jacques made a spectacular 10' flip hook shot as she was fading out of bounds with four seconds left. She also got fouled on the play but missed the free throw, with the Seahawks grabbing the board and calling timeout with two seconds left. Good last-second defense by Valley caused Harbor to turn the ball over after they inbounded the ball, and that was that.
• #3 OCC 72, ELAC 55
  • The Huskies came out the gate with a much better effort on both ends of the court, even though they trailed the whole game. East LA was able to hang with the defending champs and even pulled within three at 58-55 with 3:49 left in the game. But the Pirates, hungry for a win after two straight losses, began to pull away starting with an offensive rebound off a miss leading to G Bridgette McIntyre burying a three-ball with 2:43 to put the Pirates up six. The Huskies' offense stalled as Orange Coast pulled away by getting to the free throw line late.

Graphic below is the Okawa Classic All-Tournament (Showcase) Team.

HUSKY BITS

• ELAC has lost nine in a row and has a 5-12 record. Despite this, the team is currently ranked #25 in the state RPI standings thanks to their diffucult schedule: 12 out of their 17 opponents this season are in the State Top-25, with the Huskies facing the #5, #6 and #3 ranked teams in succession during this Classic. 3C2A Playoff selection committees factor strength of schedule (represented by RPI standings) heavily in deciding which teams make the postseason. With 24 playoff seeds projected for the 3C2A South Region come late February, Coach Turner and his crew can still very much position themselves to grab an at-large bid.

UP NEXT:

With 12 days off until their next game on January 10 (at home vs Cerritos), Coach Turner plans to go back to basics with minicamp-style practices while working in some rest and recovery for some of his players. The Huskies' depth has been shortchanged recently due to illness and injury.