Lions suffer critical loss at home

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

Azusa Pacific 57,

Vanguard 54

AZUSA — Senior Paige Halberg had 11 points, eight assists and seven rebounds for the No. 9-ranked Lions in the Golden State Athletic Conference road game Friday.

Vanguard (15-5, 9-3 in conference) led by seven with 11:46 left and led, 52-50, before No. 12-ranked APU (16-6, 9-3) tied the score at 52 all with 3:22 left, then took the lead for good with 2:41 remaining.

The loss, Vanguard’s second of the week, drops the Lions into a second-place tie with APU.

Esther Timmermans had 15 points and six rebounds, while Allison Burns had 10 points and five rebounds for Vanguard, who lost the rebounding battle, 55-36.

Amber Williams led APU with 17 points and 20 rebounds.

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Santa Ana 61,

Orange Coast 53

SANTA ANA — Sophomore Ashley Engeln had 16 points, including four three-pointers, to pace the visiting Pirates in the Orange Empire Conference game Friday.

Engeln added four rebounds and four assists for OCC (10-15, 2-6 in conference), which led, 30-28, at halftime and 44-42 until the Dons nailed a three-pointer with 10:10 left and never trailed again.

Jenna Arnett had 11 points and nine rebounds, while Jordyn Terukina had 12 points on four three-pointers for OCC.

Santa Ana, coached by former OCC standout Flo Luppani, improved to 6-17, 1-8. The Dons had lost 34 straight conference games.

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MEN’S BASKETBALL

Orange Coast 71,

Santa Ana 69

SANTA ANA — Jayson Payne and Jo Jo Trinidad had 17 points apiece for the visiting Pirates in the Orange Empire Conference game Friday.

Trinidad made a pair of free throws with one second left for the difference.

OCC is 8-16, 3-5 in conference. Santa Ana is 8-14, 2-7.

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Azusa Pacific 82,

Vanguard 71

AZUSA — Christopher Raybon had 18 points and Taylor Kelly added 16 for the visiting Lions in the Golden State Athletic Conference game Friday.

Vanguard had just 10 turnovers to APU’s 20, but lost the rebounding battle, 41-28, and made just six of 25 three-point attempts.

The Lions are 13-10, 5-7 in conference. APU is 19-5, 8-4.

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MEN’S TENNIS

San Diego State 4,

UC Irvine 3

IRVINE — Senior Fabian Matthews, a Corona del Mar High product, won in singles and doubles to pace the host Anteaters in the nonconference match Friday.

Matthews paired with Ryan Cheung to win, 8-2, at No. 1 doubles, then defeated Javier Pulgar, 6-2, 6-2, at No. 1 singles.

Jacob Jung won at No. 4 singles for UCI (1-4), which lost its third straight.

Sam Gould and Jon Kazarian won at No. 2 doubles for the Anteaters, who return to action Feb. 20 when they play host to Big West Conference rival UC Santa Barbara.

San Diego State is 3-0.

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MEN’S VOLLEYBALL

Los Angeles Pierce def.

Orange Coast

COSTA MESA — The visiting Brahmas posted a 25-23, 25-17, 25-16 nonconference triumph Friday.

Dillon Emery had 10 kills for OCC (1-1), for which libero Victor Shaefer had nine digs.

OCC’s Michael Ensign had 19 assists.

Pierce is 1-0.

OCC returns to action Thursday at El Camino at 6 p.m.

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SOFTBALL

Doubleheader

RANCHO CUCAMONGA.— Orange Coast College dropped a pair of nonconference games at Chaffey College on Friday, falling, 9-8 and 10-5.

The Pirates (1-5) led, 6-0, in the first game and 4-0 in the second game.

Kayla Blano was three for eight with a home run, five runs batted in and three runs for OCC.

Rebecca Kendrick was five for seven with two runs batted in, while Daae Cantu was four for six with one RBI for OCC.

OCC plays host to El Camino on Tuesday at 3 p.m.