Pirates handle Merced

FRESNO ? The Orange Coast College women’s basketball team reached the 30-victory plateau and the semifinals of the COA State Championships with a 54-49 victory over Merced on Thursday at Selland Arena.

Sophomore forward Jillian Ricks had 15 points and 10 rebounds and the Pirates overcame 38.3% shooting from the field ? including just 3 of 16 from three-point range (18.8%) ? by making 15 of 19 free throws to improve to 30-5.

OCC, which went the final 6:43 without a field goal, will take on Mount San Antonio (34-2) in a semifinal contest Saturday at 3 p.m. at the same site.

Mount San Antonio, which shares the No. 1 ranking in the state coaches’ poll, defeated San Francisco City College, 74-57, Thursday.

OCC claimed a 34-24 halftime lead and led, 49-39, when Jacque Yancey made a three-pointer to pull Merced to within seven.

Alma Armendariz’s layup brought Merced within 49-46 with 1:20 left.

OCC sophomore Crystal McCormick made both ends of a one-and-one free-throw situation with 48.3 seconds left to increase the Pirates’ lead to 51-46.

After Val Katayama missed the front end of a one-and-one, Yancey made another three-pointer to pull Merced to within 51-49.

But Katayama converted two foul shots in the double bonus with 15.1 seconds left to put the game out of reach.

“We did a great job on defense,” OCC Coach Mike Thornton said. “We limited [Pamiela Bounkhoune], who had scored 21 and 19 points in their first two playoff wins to six points.

“We dominated the boards, 41-32, we kept them from getting transition baskets and we limited our turnovers.”

Madison Parks had nine points and six rebounds for OCC, for which McCormick had eight points.

San Joaquin Delta meets Riverside in the other semifinal.