Irvine Valley Turns Up the Volume

The statement hasn’t been loud, but Irvine Valley has been the hottest men’s basketball team in the Orange Empire Conference in the second half.

The Lasers, who beat Golden West Friday, have a six-game winning streak going into the Southern California playoffs.

Their only loss in the second half of conference play came against Orange Empire champion Santa Ana.

Irvine Valley (20-10, 9-5) was 3-4 in the first round and started the second round by being blown out by 16 points against Santa Ana.

The performance was one of the worst for the team this season, but Coach Jerry Hernandez didn’t give up.

“I told them I was going to keep after them,” Hernandez said, “We’ve just hung together.”

The Lasers’ turnaround includes four-point victories over Saddleback and Riverside and overtime victories against Orange Coast and Fullerton.

“It’s been crazy,” Hernandez said. “I really don’t think we’re playing all that terrific. We just have gotten better at playing together and we’ve won a lot of close games.”

Hernandez has also asked his players to refocus the offense in an effort to get better shots. Freshman forward Mike Ahmad has become more of a force in the middle and is averaging 14.2 points and 8.4 rebounds. Sophomore forward Josh Garrett, who was starting, is lost for the season because he had his appendix removed a week ago.

Sophomore Earl Sanchez is the leading scorer among the guards, averaging 13.8 points.

“We talked to our shooters about not taking the first open shot,” Hernandez said, “Now I think it is helping us. We are working the ball around and getting to the free-throw line a lot more. Plus, we’re really defending well right now and we have to because we’re not going to scare any teams.”

ALONG FOR THE RIDE

The Irvine Valley women’s team has been in step with the men in the second half, also closing out the regular season with six consecutive victories.

The Lasers, who won the conference title last season under Coach Julie Hanks, were 30-point losers to conference champion Santa Ana in the first game of the second round but have not lost since.

The Lasers (22-8, 11-3) will go into the Southern California playoffs as the second-place team from the Orange Empire Conference and have a good chance of getting a berth in the top eight and a first-round bye.

Sophomore guard Jennifer O’Keefe is averaging a team-high 11.2 points and freshman guard Dawn Regan has also emerged as one of the offensive leaders. She scored a season-high 24 and had 13 rebounds Wednesday in a victory over Fullerton. She is averaging 8.2 points.

One reason Regan has stepped it up is the loss of sophomore forward Jami Allred (back injury). Allred missed six games, then came back for two but was too sore to play anymore this season.

Sophomore forward Lauren O’Hara has been consistent in the middle, averaging 9.2 points and nine rebounds.