OCC listless in loss

COSTA MESA — Once more, with feeling.

Playing for the second time in 16 hours, that’s the foremost request given the Orange Coast College women’s basketball team by Coach Mike Thornton as it played host to unbeaten Ventura, the state’s No. 1-ranked team, Saturday afternoon.

Instead, the No. 14-ranked hosts failed to exhibit much interest in taking advantage of what appeared to be a golden opportunity to upset the visitors from the north, who plodded to a lackluster 53-42 triumph.

“Yeah it was, exactly,” said Thornton, when it was suggested afterward that Ventura (14-0) seemed ripe for the taking on an afternoon in which it opened four of 18 from the field and finished at 34.6% from the field, more than 10 percentage points worse than its average through 13 games. Ventura made just two of 12 three-point tries.

“[The visitors] didn’t play well,” Thornton said.

Alas, neither did OCC, which shot 25% from the field in the first half, finished at 33.3% (on 15-of-45 shooting), was outrebounded, 42-30, including 14 offensive boards by Ventura, and lost the turnover battle, 16-12.

After missing 13 of its first 16 field-goal tries in Friday’s 58-57 home loss to Cerritos, OCC (9-4) missed 14 of its first 17 Saturday.

Back-to-back three-pointers by freshman reserve Daisy Bueno allowed OCC to take an 8-7 lead, but Ventura answered with an 8-0 run on its way to building a 28-17 halftime advantage.

In the final 20 minutes, OCC never got closer than nine, though its 10-0 run in a span of three minutes, 15 seconds late in the second half trimmed what had been a 19-point deficit.

OCC freshman Samantha Harrell was three of four from the field and freshman Jenna Lujan, a fellow front-court starter, made both of her field-goal attempts, including one three-pointer. And, Bueno made two of three from three-point range to help sophomore scoring leader Casey Gomez (13 points) with some of the offensive load.

But sophomore Simone Ibbotson, who came in averaging 11.4 points, just behind Gomez’s team-best 11.6, missed all six of her field-goal tries and finished with one point and four rebounds.

“Simone and Casey have to carry us,” Thornton said. “When [Ibbotson] plays well, we’re going to play well. But when she is ineffective on offense, even a halfway decent team is going to beat us.”

Thorton benched Ibbotson to start the second half, hoping to ignite a fire. But beyond the aforementioned shooting from Harrell and Lujan, OCC proved largely fire retardant in dropping its second straight game.

“It’s disappointing, really disappointing,” said Thornton, who has described his team, ranked No. 9 in Southern California, as a blue-collar squad that has to battle for everything it gets. “I thought we had turned a corner in terms of understanding how important work ethic was to us. If it was a hangover from last night, in my opinion, that’s no excuse. We talked about [bouncing back in a short time frame on Friday] night, and we talked about it before the [Ventura] game. [Saturday] was an example of what happens when we don’t play with passion or emotion.”

Harrell led OCC with six rebounds and matched Lujan with a team-best two steals.

Gomez, who was five of 10 from inside the three-point arc, but zero for five from threedom, added a team-best four assists. She was a consistent catalyst on offense, where, Thornton said, OCC was often stagnant.

Nonconference

Ventura 53, Orange Coast 42

Ven – Griggs 6, Heurung 11, Santizo 12, Ward 4, Selleh 3, Brennan 10, Padilla 5, King 2.

3-pt. goals – Santizo 1, Padilla 1.

Fouled out – None.

Technicals – Griggs 1.

OCC – Harrell 6, Ibbotson 1, Lujan 5, Gomez 13, Simmons 0, Bueno 6, Murray 5, Alfafara 4, Anderson 2.

3-pt. goals – Bueno 2, Alfafara 1, Murray 1, Lujan 1.

Fouled out – None.

Technicals – None.

Halftime – Ven, 28-17.