COMMUNITY COLLEGE ROUNDUP : Golden West Women Earn Their Fifth Consecutive Trip to State

Golden West, the defending women’s state champion, earned its fifth consecutive trip to the state basketball tournament with a 74-69 victory over Ventura in Huntington Beach.

It was the 24th victory in a row for the Rustlers (31-1).

Jenny Sullivan scored 21 and Bits Sirchia added 18 for Golden West, which plays Thursday in the first round of the state tournament at Los Angeles Valley.

In Orange Empire Conference baseball:

Rancho Santiago 8, Cypress 2--Sean Ramos hit a three-run home run (his fourth) for visiting Rancho Santiago (15-3, 1-0) in the conference opener for both teams. Sean Drinkwater and Troy Babbitt hit bases-empty home runs for Cypress (9-4, 0-1).

Fullerton 7, Saddleback 3 (10 innings)--David Moore hit a two-run double in the 10th inning for visiting Fullerton. Chris Johnson had a three-run homer in the first inning for Fullerton (13-5, 1-0). Saddleback is 5-6, 0-1.

Orange Coast 8, Riverside 5--Dan Redington and Corey Parker each had three hits for Orange Coast (11-3-1, 1-0). Riverside is 13-3, 0-1.

In nonconference baseball:

Golden West 13, Southwestern 4--Back-to-back home runs by Paul Newfield and Brian Mena capped a nine-run eighth inning that broke a 4-4 tie and won it for Golden West (5-6).

In the Cypress softball tournament:

Saddleback 10, East LA 3--Wendy Clemens hit a home run, a double and a single for Saddleback. In an earlier game, Long Beach defeated Saddleback, 4-2, in the international tiebreaker.