Irvine Valley Wins Conference Title

Dyanna Hatch was one of three sophomores honored Wednesday before Irvine Valley’s Orange Empire Conference women’s basketball game against Fullerton.

Hatch then had her best conference game, scoring 22 points to lead Irvine Valley to a 77-55 victory and the biggest honor in its two-year history--a conference title.

Hatch, who had six three-pointers, couldn’t take part in the celebration at midcourt after the game.

Instead, she stayed on the bench, her right ankle taped and elevated on a chair next to her. Hatch was hurt when she fell as she made a three-pointer with 10 minutes 18 seconds left in the game to put the Lasers ahead, 53-35. She is expected to be out about a week.

“Did you see a foul there?” Irvine Valley Coach Lisa McNamee asked. “I sure did; I was right on top of it. They knocked her right down.”

McNamee’s anger over the no-call wasn’t limited to postgame interviews. Even as Hatch was on the floor holding her ankle, McNamee was near midcourt asking for a foul and getting a technical.

Hatch was more excited that her team won than worried about the play. “As I came down I got the girl’s foot a little bit,” she said. “I guess it didn’t happen at the greatest time. But it feels great [to win a championship]. Our team has just worked hard the whole year.”

Heather Cunningham added 15 for Irvine Valley, which used a 13-3 run in the first five minutes of the second half to take a 41-25 lead.

The Lasers also got another solid performance from freshman point guard Kristen Kopp, who had 12 assists and only three turnovers, although Fullerton used a zone press for much of the game. “To me [she’s] our most valuable player,” McNamee said.

Pamela Loud and Alison Carr, the other Irvine Valley sophomores honored before the final home game of the regular season, also had big games. Loud had 13 rebounds and Carr had 12 points and nine rebounds.

Angie Baca had 20 and Nadia Hoerner had nine rebounds and eight blocks for Fullerton (17-11, 5-4).

In another conference game:

Cypress 71, Riverside 39--Holly Pawlowski scored a game-high 17 points and Mary Perry added 10 points, 14 rebounds and six steals for Cypress (19-9, 4-5). Cypress led at halftime, 34-14. Christy Ybarra scored a team-high 14 points for Riverside (11-17, 1-9).