3C2A Women's Basketball quarterfinals #1: OCC counts to three in blowout over Folsom Lake

WALNUT -- In perhaps the greatest long-range shooting performance in the history of the 3C2A State Women's Basketball Championship tournament, Orange Coast College drowned Folsom Lake with 3-pointer after 3-pointer in a 95-59 victory in the opening quarterfinal on Friday.

The South #1 seeded Pirates (26-5) advance to the semifinals, two wins away from becoming the first three-peat state champ since Mt. San Antonio in 2006-2008.

The Pirates made a sensational 22-of-36 (61.1 percent) from 3-point range as Melaiah Joseph sank 7-for-10 as part of her 26 points, Kayla Borgelt swished 6-for-8 on her way to 21 points, and Collins poured in four as she tallied 19 points. Joseph and Borgelt each made three of the team's 14 steials in forcing Folsom Lake into 25 turnovers.

From the moment Joseph drilled a 3-pointer and was fouled resulting in a 4-point play on their opening shot, the Pirates knew it was a sign of good things to come. OCC hit an unconscious 71 percent from beyond the arc in the first half, drilling 12 treys. 

In the first quarter, the Pirates went inside for three baskets by 6-foot-1 center Alyssa Dreessen while Myia Collins was a perfect 5-for-5, including a trio of bombs for a commanding 33-15 lead. Things only got tougher for Folsom Lake with the Pirates going perfection on three straight 3s, two by Joseph, to increase it to 53-17. Hailey Estrada sank another triple to make it 59-25 at halftime.

The consistency of OCC's shooting was seen in the quarters statistical breakdown as it converted six 3-point baskets in each of the first three periods and added four in the fourth.

"As good as we shot the ball, I felt like we were so locked in on defense and that it gave our players the confidence to make those shots," said Orange Coast head coach Sammy Doucette. "It's probably the best we've shot since we played Moorpark right here at this gym."

Doucette was referring to the team's 15 triples (28 attempts) in a 71-52 Nov. 3 victory at the Mt. SAC Tournament.

For Folsom Lake (25-6), Athena Brombacher and Lexi Peters scored 13 points a piece and Kelis Powell totaled 10 off the bench.

"We were chasing Orange Coast all game, and they just share  the ball so well to work it around to the open shooter," said Falcons head coach Ali Mollett.

"I'm proud of the fact we're still a young program and we were able to reach the state tourney two years straight. We've only been around for eight years."

Release by Robert Lewis, CCCWBCA Publicist