Orange Coast Has Wilde Time in Title Game

The Orange Coast women’s basketball team took advantage of its depth in beating Cerritos, 84-72, Sunday in the championship game of the Simple Green Coast Christmas Classic in Costa Mesa.

Orange Coast starting forward Ani Saraydarian was slowed by sore ankle and wasn’t ready when the second half began.

But her replacement, Leah Wilde, sparked an early OCC run just as she had done in the first half and went on to be selected as the tournament’s most valuable player.

Wilde, a freshman forward from Capistrano Valley High, finished with 22 points on eight-of-13 shooting and had a team-high 11 rebounds.

It was the third tournament title this season for the Pirates (13-1), who also won the Chaffey and Cuesta tournaments.

Wilde scored 10 of OCC’s first 14 points of the second half, including a short jumper with 14 minutes 45 seconds left in the game to put the Pirates ahead, 53-41.

Cerritos (8-5) was never closer than 10 the rest of the way.

As important as Wilde’s contributions were in the second half, it was her performance in the first half that helped Orange Coast get going in the right direction.

Cerritos was more aggressive and more determined and built a 21-11 lead with 12 minutes left in the half.

“We’ve been starting slow lately and I have no idea why,” OCC Coach Mike Thornton said.

But Wilde entered and made three consecutive baskets, including a three-pointer, to get Orange Coast back in it.

“We have been talking about playing well even when we’re not shooting well,” Thornton said, “and we weren’t doing that. We needed to play harder earlier.”

A defensive switch also helped as the Pirates went from man-to-man to zone defense and took away some easy inside baskets starting midway in the first half.

Cerritos then struggled with its outside shooting and the Pirates started to dominate.

OCC used a 30-10 run to open a 41-31 lead and was ahead at the break, 41-35.

Sophomore guard Adria Sortino finished with 15 points, including making seven of eight free throws, and had eight assists.

Freshman forward Sarah Middlebrooke added 13 points and 10 rebounds for OCC.

Freshman guard Erin Tomlinson also had six points and six assists and sophomore center Natalie Weeks had eight points and nine rebounds for the Pirates.

It was the first time OCC had won its tournament since 1992.

In the third-place game:

Fullerton 66, Chaffey 53--Guard Teresa Manning scored 25 points for Fullerton (6-6) in the third-place game. She was eight of 11 from the field on two-point attempts and one of six on three-pointers.

Guard Cheranny Lindsay made eight of 13 shots and finished with 19 points and guard Joyce Sudario added seven points and eight assists for the Hornets.