COMMUNITY COLLEGE WOMEN’S BASKETBALL : Golden West Beats Riverside to Keep Victory Streaks Alive

Golden West, ranked second in the state, barely kept its home and Orange Empire Conference winning streaks alive Friday with a 71-70 victory over Riverside.

Riverside, which made 10 of 20 three-point attempts, cut the lead to 71-70 on a three-pointer by Virginia Vaioletama with 23 seconds left. Riverside got the ball back with six seconds remaining but couldn’t get a shot.

It was the 24th consecutive conference victory and the 65th in a row at home for Golden West (25-3, 7-0).

Deana Itow had 23 points, and Katie Miner added 22 for the Rustlers. Miner was scoreless in Golden West’s 65-55 victory over Fullerton Wednesday. She was nine of 10 from the field Friday.

Itow and Michelle Kravic also had 13 rebounds each for Golden West.

Audrey McMurry had 20 points and eight rebounds for Riverside (20-9, 3-4), the ninth-ranked team in the state.

In other conference games:

Fullerton 64, Saddleback 47--Valory Widdison scored 13 points in Coach Colleen Hudson’s 700th game at Fullerton. Riley, the winningest women’s basketball coach in California community college history, has a mark of 557-143 at Fullerton. She is retiring as a coach at the end of the season.

Cypress 82, Rancho Santiago 31--Sara Works had 28 points, and Yolanda Hearvey added 19 for host Cypress (19-7, 4-3). Rancho Santiago is 3-15, 0-7.