Patton Helps Santa Ana Get Past Irvine Valley

Irvine Valley turned in a courageous effort but couldn’t maintain a late lead and fell to host Santa Ana, 76-68, in an Orange Empire Conference women’s basketball game Wednesday.

Stephanie Patton had eight points during a 15-2 run that gave Santa Ana, ranked third in the state, a 70-64 lead with three minutes 39 seconds left in the game.

Irvine Valley had led, 62-55, with 6:40 left.

Patton, a sophomore forward who also had 11 rebounds, capped the run with a three-pointer from the corner. It is a shot she works a great deal on in practice but doesn’t shoot much in games.

“When I was shooting I was thinking, ‘Oh great, what am I doing,’ ” Patton said. “But when I made it I was thinking, ‘I should have more confidence.’ ”

Irvine Valley (11-5, 0-1) rallied to close to 70-68 when Dawn Regan scored with 1:08 left.

But Terrial Cole of Santa Ana (14-2, 1-0) scored on a layup with 43 seconds left, then had a steal and a layup to give Santa Ana a 74-68 lead with 24 seconds left.

Santa Ana’s Atari Parker, who is averaging 27 points, was seven of 23 but finished with 24 points.

Lauren O’Hara (15 rebounds) and Jennifer O’Keefe scored 15 points each for Irvine Valley, which played most of the second half without sophomore forward and team leader Jami Allred.

Allred was involved in a collision near midcourt while going after a loose ball and left the game and went to the hospital because of a gash on her tongue.

In other women’s games:

Orange Coast 59, Golden West 48--Host Orange Coast, ranked second in the state, was down 45-40 but went on a 19-3 run to close out the game.

Karyn Fierst had 14 and Leah Wilde added 11 for Orange Coast (17-1), which has won 15 in a row. Kelly Medlen had 12 for Golden West (13-3, 0-1), which had its 13-game winning streak stopped.

Fullerton 72, Saddleback 55--Visiting Fullerton (14-6, 1-0) started the game with an 18-2 run and Valerie Matweeff and Katy Barstow had 14 each for Fullerton and Erin Edmiston had 24 for Saddleback (4-13, 0-1).

Riverside 72, Cypress 65--Sharee Brown and Trina Allen had 17 each for host Cypress (5-11, 0-1).

In men’s games:

Santa Ana 86, Irvine Valley 69--Host Santa Ana used a 21-4 run that started on a dunk by Zac Fray with 14:10 left in the second half to pull away. Greg Gray had 22 points and Herbert Gracia added 17 for Santa Ana (15-3, 1-0).

Orange Coast 84, Golden West 79--Chad Hagedom (11 for 14 on free throws) had 27 points for OCC (12-4, 1-0) and Rodney Clarke had 18 for Golden West (5-11, 0-1).

Riverside 87, Cypress 78--Towan Oliver scored 29 points for Cypress (7-11, 0-1).

Saddleback 73, Fullerton 64--Semaj Johnson made eight of 11 shots and finished with 20 points for Saddleback (13-5, 1-0).