Women's basketball team wins home opener
Nov 19, 2008
The Irvine Valley women's basketball team won its home opener Wednesday night, knocking off Santa Monica, 51-42, in a non-conference game.
"I thought we really stepped it up defensively," IVC coach Julie Hanks said. "We played pretty well overall. We rebounded well and made baskets when we needed to. We still have to cut down on the turnovers. But we are getting better with every game."
Irvine Valley improved its record to 3-2 on the season. IVC played its first three games in the San Diego Mesa Tip-Off Tournament and then was on the road at Palomar last week. IVC lost that contest to Palomar, 70-45, after struggling in the final 10 minutes of the contest.
The Lasers finished a lot stronger on Wednesday.
Santa Monica pulled to within 43-37 on a basket by Chantel Diaz with 5:22 to play.
But the Lasers held on. They scored the next four points, capped by a basket by freshman guard Brittney Horton, to go up, 46-37, and put the game away.
"Brittney played well and I thought Ashley (Dunn) and Erika (Garcia) did a great job tonight," Hanks said.
Dunn, the lone returning starter from last year's team, finished with a game-high 15 points and 12 rebounds.
Garcia, a freshman guard, added 12 points, eight rebounds, three assists and four steals. Horton chipped in 11 points, five rebounds and two steals and red-shirt freshman guard Ivy Melo contributed seven points, five assists and two steals. Sophomore center Alleson Frampton also had six rebounds in the win for Irvine Valley.
IVC broke open the game in the final minute of the first half. Santa Monica tied the score at 17-17 with 1:05 to play in the half. But the Lasers scored the final six points and took a 23-17 lead into the break.
They never trailed again.
Garcia made a free throw with 53.7 seconds left and then Melo drained a three-pointer with 30 seconds left in the half to give Irvine Valley the six-point cushion.
Irvine Valley stretched its lead to double digits on a jumper by freshman forward Courtney Kollasch with 13:26 left in the game. And the Lasers took their biggest lead at 39-25 with 8:25 to play on a three-pointer by Dunn.
For the game, IVC shot 39.6 percent from the field (19 of 48) and held Santa Monica to just 29.5 percent (18 of 61).
Irvine Valley and Santa Monica each finished with 42 rebounds. The two teams combined for 51 turnovers.
Irvine Valley plays again on Friday on the road at Glendale at 6 p.m. The Lasers then return home on Saturday to host LA Valley at 6 p.m.