The Irvine Valley women’s basketball team could challenge for an Orange Empire Conference title and even win 20 games this season.
But the main goal for the team is to get back to the Southern California Regional Playoffs.
“We want to get back to that,” Irvine Valley 10th-year coach Julie Hanks said. “We have missed the playoffs the last three years in a row. From making the playoffs each and every year to being out of them is tough.
“We want to get back there and I think we can do that with this team.”
The Lasers had a disappointing 11-17 overall record last season. The team was just 3-11 in Orange Empire Conference play.
But Hanks expects her squad to rebound in 2007-08. She has what she considers, “her best recruiting class” at the college.
“We did a good job of recruiting,” Hanks said. “We’ve always had numbers, but it seems the last few years we’ve been hit by injuries or had players that didn’t want to finish out the year. So this year we went out and made sure we got players that really wanted to play and wanted to be a part of Irvine Valley College basketball.
“For the most part we got the quality players that we felt are going to help us be successful this year.”
The freshmen recruiting class is led by 5-11 forward Tiffany Smith from Vista Murrieta High, 5-6 guard Patrice Fuentes from Temecula Valley High and 6-2 center DJ Butler and 5-7 forward Ashley Dunn from Ocean View High. Smith led her Vista Murrieta team to a Southwestern League title last season.
“Tiffany is a player,” Hanks said. “She is a scorer and will be a consistent score. She is also very versatile. She can play inside and outside. We can go to her and get a basket when we need to. She also rebounds well and always plays hard.
"Patrice makes things tick. She knows how to win and is a very gutty player. When we need a stop, she is there to get us a stop. She really leads by example. She was one of the players we went out and really tried to get because of her tenacity and the way she plays. We love her effort. She is a gamer and comes to play every day."
“DJ is a post player that was recruiting by a lot of people out of high school. She can score down low for us and be a presence on defense. And she is improving every day. She has made significant progress already since she was in high school."
“Ashley is quick. She can play defense and hit the outside shot. She could be a starter for us, but will come off the bench and be a spark for us. We will rely on her a lot.”
Smith, Fuentes and Butler are slated to be in the starting lineup along with returning sophomore players Nicole Tait and Jenna Schonfeld.
Other members of Hanks' special recruiting class that will be expected to contribute are 6-0 center freshman Alleson Frampton out of Huntington Beach High, 5-4 freshman point guard Ivy Melo, 5-7 freshman guard Ashley Ross out of Magnolia High and 5-8 freshman guard Raycie Haley out of Temecula Valley High.
Freshman Tessa Ross, a 5-6 guard out of Irvine, rounds out the group.
“We are young,” Hanks said. “We only have two sophomores that played here last year. These freshmen need to learn our system and get some experience at the college level. But I really think they are going to be all right."
The two sophomore returning players are expected to be rocks for the Lasers this year.
Both Tait, a 5-9 forward, and Schonfeld, a 5-8 guard/forward, started a number of games last season as freshmen at IVC.
Tait averaged 5.3 points and was second on the team in three-point shots made. Schofield 7.1 points and shot a team best 44.7 percent from the field.
“Nicole and Jenna work hard and are the most stable kids we have out there,” Hanks said. “They are really helping the other kids out. I think Nicole keeps things calm and doesn’t make any mistakes. Jenna can really shoot the ball. We will need both of them to score for us this year and I going to count on both of them to be leaders on and off the floor for us this year."
And the Lasers were fortunate to get a couple of bounce-back players from four-year schools that will further enhance the team's depth and experience. They are 5-3 sophomore point guard Shamia Briscoe (Chapman University), 5-7 sophomore forward Mishella Scott (Cal Poly Pomona) and 5-8 sophomore guard Megan Benbow (Bethel University).
"Megan is very quick and a good shooter," Hanks said. "I think Mishella will do a great job on the boards for us."
Hanks will use up to 12 players in her rotation.
“We can go pretty far down the bench and there isn’t a big drop off,” she said. “We have more scorers on the team than we did last year. We can score inside and out. And we have kids that can rebound and run the court. There are a lot of options."
Hanks believes the mix of players, depth, hustle and talent on the roster can bring success.
“If we can play well together I think this can be one of the best teams Irvine Valley has ever had,” she said. “It is whether we can gain the knowledge and experience we need by the time conference starts in January.
“There are some experienced teams that we will be going up against like Orange Coast, Fullerton and Saddleback in conference that have a lot of sophomore players. We need to bring it and be ready.”