OCC Women Open Conference in Good Shape

Orange Coast starts the Orange Empire Conference women’s basketball season tonight not only as the conference favorite but as the top-ranked team in Southern California.

The Pirates return three starters from last season’s team that tied for the conference title with Fullerton and reached the quarterfinals of the state tournament.

Santa Ana, Irvine Valley and Fullerton are the conference teams most likely to challenge Orange Coast.

Here is a look at each team:

Cypress (7-10 overall)--First-year Coach Margaret Mohr, who comes from Long Beach Wilson, where she won two league titles in six seasons, has eight first-year players.

Guard Angela Garrett tops the team in scoring average at 20.5 points and Sharee Brown, who is listed as a guard and a post player, averages 15 points and 10 rebounds. Center Antares Vice is averaging 11 points and 10 rebounds.

Fullerton (9-7)--The Hornets reached the state quarterfinals last season with a sophomore-dominated team, but they have benefited this season from the play of two transfers.

Point guard Joyce Sudario, who is averaging six assists, came from Cal State Fullerton, where she played in nine games last season. Chris Payne is a six-foot forward from UC Riverside who is averaging 15 points and eight rebounds.

Freshman forward Teresa Manning is averaging 14 points.

Golden West (7-10)--The Rustlers are getting some strong performances from several first-year players. Guard Kelly Medlen is averaging 17 points, 5.5 rebounds and has made 48 of 54 free throws.

Tracy Downs, who at 6-1 is the tallest Rustler, averages 14 points and eight rebounds. Amy Pace, who plays at wing, averages 13 points and three assists.

Irvine Valley (12-4)--Phouangmaly Pravongviengkham returns at point guard with a confident look about her and the numbers to back it up; she is averaging 13.5 points and 5.5 assists.

Freshman Jami Allred leads in scoring at 14.2 and freshman guard Jennifer O’Keefe and freshman center Lauren O’Hara are also averaging in double figures.

Orange Coast (16-1)--Center Natalie Weeks, forward Ani Saraydarian and guard Adria Sortino--all starters last season--are back and joined by Coach Mike Thornton’s best freshman class in his 10 years.

Weeks, who is 6-3, is averaging 13 points and nine rebounds, and Sortino, who returns at point guard, is averaging five assists. Freshman Erin Tomlinson, a former Bakersfield area player of the year, is starting at the other guard and averaging 11 points, five rebounds and 4.6 assists.

Riverside (4-9)--Sophomore forward Kenya Johnson is averaging 11 points and nine rebounds for the Tigers. Coach Michael Barnes is in his 18th season at the college.

Saddleback (6-10)--Seven Gauchos have been high scorer in a game so far but only two are averaging in double figures. Christina Carcich, a sophomore guard, and Katie McCluskey, a freshman guard, are each averaging 10 points.

Amy Lindstrom, a freshman forward from Australia, and Heather Basco, another freshman forward, are each averaging eight rebounds.

Santa Ana (11-5)--The Dons start conference play as a bit of an enigma because of their nonconference schedule, which included a trip to Utah, where they lost three times to two-year colleges with scholarship players.

But sophomore forward Rochelle Anthony is no mystery. She is among the top players in Southern California. Anthony is averaging 21 points and nine rebounds. The Dons also have the top two rebounders in the conference in 6-2 sophomore forward Fiaave Tipoti (11 rebounds) and Stephanie Patten (9.4 rebounds).