Women's basketball team receives four commitments

Women's basketball team receives four commitments

Irvine Valley women's basketball coach Julie Hanks has received commitments from four standout high school senior players for the 2015-16 season.

Kasey Smit of Tesoro, Aaleah Brown of Laguna Hills, Kydell Pearson of Marina and Serena Saba of San Clemente are expected to contribute for the Lasers next season.

Smit, Brown and Saba each played against each other in the South Coast League.

Smit, a 6-0 post player, led Tesoro to a 23-6 record and a 7-1 record in the South Coast League. Tesoro and San Clemente tied for the title.

Smit averaged 13.4 points, 10.1 rebounds, 2.6 assists, 2.5 steals and 3.8 blocks per game last season for Tesoro. She had as many as 25 points and as many as 20 rebounds in games last season.

Brown, a 5-8 guard, averaged 14.1 points, 5.4 rebounds, 1.7 assists, 1.5 steals and 1.3 blocks per game this past season for Laguna Hills.

She topped 20 points in games twice this past season with a season-high 26 points against El Modena.

Brown was named her team's MVP.

Pearson, a forward/center, was also picked as the MVP of her squad as well as first team all-Sunset League.

Saba helped San Clemente to a 17-8 record overall , 7-1 mark in the South Coast League and a league title.

Saba, a point guard, averaged 15.0 points, 3.0 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 2.7 steals per game last season for the Tritons.

Irvine Valley is coming off one of the best seasons in school history. It went undefeated to win the Orange Empire Conference, finished with a record of 27-4 overall and made a trip to the Southern California Playoffs Regional Final. IVC was one of the final eight teams in the state playoffs.

Top returners include guards Jordan Coleman, Tara Casey and Erika Mercado and forward Morgan Bryant.

Coleman and Casey were each named first team all-conference this past season. Coleman also earned honorable mention All-America honors.