Irvine Valley Advances to State Tournament

Irvine Valley’s road to the women’s state basketball tournament was short, but it seemed long for Laser Coach Julie Hanks.

The first-year coach endured a mostly sluggish performance from her team, but the Lasers played just enough good minutes to defeat visiting Los Angeles Harbor, 57-51, in the finals of the Southern California playoffs Friday.

Irvine Valley, which had a first-round bye and won at home Tuesday, advanced to the state tournament, which starts Thursday at Concordia.

Irvine Valley was ahead by a point at the half, pushed the lead to 14 with about seven minutes left then watched Los Angeles Harbor rally to within three and have possession four minutes later.

“I was saying to myself with three minutes left,” Hanks said, “ ‘We might as well get the silver platter out and let them back into the game.’ If there was more time left in the game, I don’t know what would have happened.

“I’m just glad we won. I’m very happy.”

Irvine Valley struggled against the press in the first half, turning it over 14 times.

But the Lasers’ tentative play vanished at the start of the second half partly because forward Jami Allred returned to the lineup. She got her second foul with about 12 minutes left in the first half and Hanks kept her on the bench the rest of the half.

But Allred (17 points, 13 rebounds) led the charge as Irvine Valley attacked the press to start the second half. She scored 11 points during a 17-6 run that put Irvine Valley ahead 43-31 with 13:21 to play. Lauren O’Hara scored on a layup to put Irvine Valley ahead, 51-37, with 7:25 left.

But Harbor recovered and Irvine Valley again became tentative. Harbor’s Monica Calhoun had a three-point play as the Seahawks cut the lead to 52-49 with 3:18 left.

Harbor missed four shots in its next two possessions before Irvine Valley got baskets from Allison Crunk and Jennifer O’Keefe to lead, 56-49, with 2:05 left.

Harbor then began to throw up three-point attempts, missing six the rest of the way. The Seahawks were six of 31 on three-point tries for the game.

“I think we forgot that we still had minutes to play,” Allred said about the end of the game. “We let them back in the game but we pulled it back together.”

In another playoff game:

Ventura 70, Santa Ana 55--Stephanie Patten scored 19 points and Rochelle Anthony 18 for Santa Ana, which finished 23-10 to set a single-season record for victories.