COMMUNITY COLLEGE WOMEN’S BASKETBALL : Golden West Tops OCC Again

The Golden West women’s basketball team struggled to continue its dominance of Orange Coast, finally escaping with a 59-58 victory in the Orange Empire Conference opener for both teams Wednesday at Golden West.

It was the 19th consecutive victory for the Rustlers over district-rival OCC. Both are expected to contend for the conference title along with Cypress.

Julie Murdent scored on a layup with two minutes 21 seconds left to give Golden West a 57-56 lead. It was only the second time the Rustlers (16-5, 1-0) led in the game.

Orange Coast (14-7, 0-1) came within a point, 59-58, with 1:07 left on a basket by Kathleen Kelly and Orange Coast had the ball twice more before time ran out. The Pirates turned the ball over on a shot-clock violation the first time and America Robledo missed a shot from past half court as time expired. Robledo had 20 points and Jamie Shine added 13 before fouling out.

Murdent had 17 points and 10 rebounds and Katie Miner had 20 rebounds for Golden West, which will play Friday at Saddleback.

In another conference game:

Saddleback 65, Rancho Santiago 63 (OT)--Nicole Zuniga of Saddleback had a steal with two seconds left in overtime to preserve the victory for the visiting Gauchos (10-5, 1-0). Maureen Skehan had 14 points for Saddleback. Grace Cervantes had a game-high 17 points for Rancho Santiago, which has lost 25 consecutive conference games.