Women's basketball team left out of playoffs
Feb 20, 2006
The Irvine Valley women's basketball team got the 2005-06 season off to a great start, but the Lasers didn't finish the year the same way.
And it cost the team a trip to the Southern California Regional Playoffs.
Despite finishing with an overall record of 22-9, the Lasers were not one of the 18 teams picked for the post season at the selection meeting on Monday.
The Lasers had the most wins in state history not to be picked for the playoffs and the second highest winning percentage (.710) not to be selected. San Diego Mesa finished 19-2 (.905 winning percentage) in 1978, the first year of the state tournament, and didn't make the playoffs.
It was Orange Empire Conference play that did the Lasers in.
The Lasers had a record of 17-1 heading into conference play, which was the best start in school history. But then they lost two straight to begin conference.
And the team lost six of its final nine contests.
Irvine Valley lost at Riverside last Friday to end the regular season. It finished in sixth place in the conference standings with a record of 6-8.
Only three teams from the Orange Empire Conference reached the 18-team Southern California Regional Playoffs. Riverside was seeded second, Orange Coast was seeded third and Cypress, which won the conference title and is the defending state champion, was seeded fourth.
The Lasers will have to try and look ahead to the 2006-07 campaign with returning starters Robin Smith and Emily Luckeroth. But they lose several key sophomores, including the school's all-time rebounding leader and two-time first team all-conference player Vanessa Dominguez.