Women's basketball team on a roll to start conference play

Courtesy of On My Game Photography
Courtesy of On My Game Photography

Irvine Valley's women's basketball team moved its record to 2-0 in the Orange Empire Conference with another blowout win on Friday night at home.

After defeating Saddleback by 34 points on Wednesday in its conference opener, the Lasers took down Fullerton, 75-52, Friday.

Irvine Valley, ranked No. 9 in the state and fourth in Southern California in this week's coaches polls, improved its record to 13-3 overall.

Sophomore forward Kasey Smit dominated with 25 points, 18 rebounds, five assists, two blocks and two steals in 37 minutes of action for IVC.

The 25 points was a season high for Smit and followed a 24-point performance in IVC's win over Saddleback on Wednesday. And she now has four games this season with at least 18 rebounds.

Smit also recorded her ninth double-double of the season.

Freshman guard Cydnie Danan had 13 points, six rebounds and four assists and freshman guard Lexi Vail contributed 11 points, nine rebounds, six assists and three steals also in 37 minutes for IVC.

The Lasers also got seven points, five rebounds and five assists from sophomore guard Elizabeth Garcia in the win.

Irvine Valley raced out to a 51-28 lead at the half after shooting 52.5 percent (21 of 40) from the field as a team.

IVC cruised from there to win its fourth straight game.

Fullerton, which shot just 27.8 percent (20 of 72) as a team in the game got 14 points, six rebounds and four assists from Melody Thomsen, 12 points and eight rebounds from Aliyah-Deen Ahmad and eight points and two assists from Lillian Ballestro.

Fullerton's record slipped to 4-10 overall and 0-2 in conference.

Irvine Valley will go for its third straight conference win and fifth in a row overall when it makes the trip to Joshua Tree to take on Copper Mountain next Wednesday at 7 p.m.

The Lasers are then home, Friday, Jan. 12 against Santa Ana at 7 p.m. in another conference match-up.