Basketball Titles Net Mixed Playoff Rewards at Irvine Valley

Winning the Orange Empire Conference title proved to be worth little more than a first-round bye for the Irvine Valley women’s basketball team.

Despite a 23-5 record and spending much of the season ranked among the top seven in the state, Irvine Valley was given the sixth seeding in the Southern California playoff pairings, which were announced Monday.

Irvine Valley (23-5) lost to top-seeded Ventura (31-1) and No. 2 Canyons (19-4) so those spots were out of the question, but Irvine Valley Coach Lisa McNamee figured her team would be third or fourth.

The Lasers didn’t play No. 3 Los Angeles Harbor (22-6) or No. 5 Cuesta (25-6), but beat No. 4 Victor Valley (24-6). None of those three teams plays in as competitive a conference.

Since the top eight teams in the 24-team field get a first-round bye, Irvine Valley is off until March 4. The Lasers will then host the winner of No. 11 Mt. San Antonio (16-11) and No. 22 Bakersfield (13-16).

But a victory in that game would most likely send Irvine Valley, which was led in scoring by Heather Cunningham (16 points a game) and rebounding by Pamela Loud (10 a game), on the road against No. 3 Los Angeles Harbor. McNamee was hoping for two home games.

Three other Orange County teams made the playoffs. Rancho Santiago (19-7) is seeded No. 10 and will host No. 23 Pasadena (11-13) Saturday.

Also on Saturday: No. 20 Grossmont (14-14) is at No. 13 Orange Coast (19-10) and No. 21 San Diego Mesa (16-12) is at No. 12 Cypress (21-8).

Fullerton would have been in the playoff field, but the Hornets were forced to forfeit 13 victories, including five in conference, because of a paperwork error.

Nadia Hoerner joined the team late after being on the volleyball team and was always academically eligible but was never put on the eligibility list.