Orange Empire Race is a Parody of Parity

This was supposed to be the season every team had a chance at the Orange Empire Conference men’s basketball title.

Rancho Santiago, the two-time defending state champion, returned only one starter.

Cypress, which reached the state semifinals last season, lost four starters as well. The teams surely had to be down. No longer would they dominate the conference as they had in three of the past four seasons. Cypress won titles in 1988 and ’90 and Rancho Santiago won it last season.

Things were going to be difference this season. The other teams had more experience. Coaches made “parity” the buzzword for the race before it started.

But seven contests into the 12-game conference schedule, things are looking a lot like they have in the recent past.

Rancho Santiago (18-7) is 6-1 in conference and holds a one-game lead over Cypress (18-7, 5-2).

Golden West (12-14, 3-3) is third, Riverside (17-11, 3-4), Saddleback (12-11, 3-4) and Fullerton (11-11, 3-4) are tied for fourth. Orange Coast (9-15, 1-6) is in seventh.

Rancho Santiago travels to Cypress Wednesday for a 7 p.m. game that will be the most important one so far this season.

A victory by the Dons would put them in control. Rancho Santiago would have a two-game lead with four left, and the schedule in its favor. The Dons play three of their final four conference games at home.

Cypress started the conference race with a pair of losses. The Chargers lost to Fullerton, 72-68, and then to Rancho Santiago, 69-56.

But Cypress has won five in a row since, including an 81-80 victory over Fullerton Saturday. Anthony Livingston, who had made one of seven three-pointers all season, made one with eight seconds left.

It’s of little surprise that Rancho Santiago and Cypress are about to meet with something major on the line. The teams have played some of the most important and dramatic games in Orange County in the past five years.

The best game in the series from the Rancho Santiago point of view came last Jan. 26, when the Dons won, 106-105, in overtime. The winning basket came when Corie Blount rebounded a missed free throw attempt and scored on a short jumper as time ran out. It also gave the Dons a commanding two-game lead in the conference race.

Rancho Santiago currently holds a three-game winning streak over the Chargers.

Cypress defeated the Dons twice in the 1989-90 season to win the conference by two games, but the most intense victory came in the playoffs in March of 1988.

The winner of the game would advance to the state tournament. Cypress rallied from 10 points back in the second half and won, 64-63, as Rancho Santiago missed a last-second shot.

Reload: The Cypress softball team and Coach Brad Pickler start their pursuit of a second consecutive state title when the season opens Friday.

Cypress is joined by Fullerton and Golden West in the 18-team Great Western Shootout at Yuma, Ariz. There will be nine teams from California and nine from Arizona.

Cypress went 46-10 last season, setting a school record for victories, and returns five members of its state championship team--pitcher Cindy Hover, outfielder Nikkanni Andrews, catcher Stefanie Hill, infielder Priscilla Sarmiento and utility player Jackie Boxley.

Orange Coast and host Rancho Santiago play in the Rancho Santiago Lidlifter Tournament, which also starts Friday. Rancho Santiago plays College of the Sequoias at 9:45 a.m. and Orange Coast takes on San Bernardino Valley at 11:15 a.m.

Saddleback plays Friday in the Gavilan Tournament at Gilroy, Calif.

Irvine Valley is fielding its first team this season, but didn’t schedule any nonconference games. Irvine Valley’s first game will be Feb. 27 when the Lasers play host to Saddleback in the Orange Empire Conference opener.

Amy Wagner, a sweeper for the Cypress women’s soccer team, was selected as a first-team All-American by the National Soccer Coach Assn. of America. Wagner, from Long Beach Wilson High School, led a defense that allowed 16 goals while going 9-4-2 in its first season.