Irvine Valley's women's basketball team finished eighth in the final California Community College Sports Information Association Top 20 State Poll of the 2017-18 season.
The poll was released on Tuesday morning.
Irvine Valley made the CCCAA State Championship tournament for the second time in school history last week at Ventura College.
The Lasers lost to Sierra, 94-75, in the quarterfinals of the state tourney last Friday. IVC led, 37-26, at the half, but Sierra had too much in the end.
Irvine Valley was paced by sophomore Kasey Smit, who finished with 18 points and 13 rebounds. Freshman guard Lexi Vail finished with 16 points, six rebounds and four assists, sophomore guard Elizabeth Garcia had 15 points and five assists and freshman guard Cydnie Danan ended with 14 points.
Irvine Valley ended the year with a record of 26-5 overall. The Lasers earned a share of the Orange Empire Conference title and were ranked among the top 10 teams in the state for most of the season. Smit was named the OEC most valuable player with coach Julie Hanks earning co-coach of the year honors in the conference.
Mt. San Jacinto College, which won the state title, was ranked No. 1.
The Eagles made history twice on Sunday when they won their first-ever CCCAA state title in women's basketball and the first accomplished by a school from the Pacific Coast Athletic Conference.
Mt. San Jacinto finished with a record of 32-2 on the year and was the unanimous pick in the poll.
Mt. San Jacinto became the 18th different college to win a women's basketball state title. The Eagles were led by tourney MVP Delacy Brown, who poured in 41 points in the team's semifinal triumph over No. 3 Sierra in the semifinals.
Merced, the North's No. 4 seed at the state tourney, surprised many by making into the finals and jumped seven places to take the final No. 2 spot. After Sierra, semifinalist Fresno City earned No. 4. Previously top-ranked Palomar was upset by Merced in the quarterfinals and settled for No. 5.
A college that earned respect was state tournament participant Los Angeles Trade Tech, which tied with College of the Sequoias for the No. 6 position. Trade Tech snapped No. 11 Mt. San Antonio's remarkable string of 16 consecutive South Coast Conference titles. Sequoias was one of three Central Valley Conference teams that made it to the 8-team field at the state tourney.
Irvine Valley climbed to No. 8, followed by City College of San Francisco at No. 9 and Diablo Valley rounding out the Top 10 at No. 10.
While no team in the final regular season top 20 dropped out of the poll, No. 17 Ventura, the host of the 2018 men's and women's championships, had the biggest drop of five places. At No. 20, East Los Angeles was the only state top 20-ranked team that did not win at least 20 games (finished 18-11).
CCCSIA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL STATE POLL (Final)
Rk. Team
1. Mt. San Jacinto (16)
2. Merced
3. Sierra
4. Fresno
5. Palomar
T6. L.A. Trade-Tech
T6. College of the Sequoias
8. Irvine Valley
9. City College of San Francisco
10. Diablo Valley
11. Mt. San Antonio
12. El Camino
13. College of the Siskiyous
14. Chabot
15. Cypress
16. Moorpark
17. Ventura
18. L.A. Valley
19. Feather River
20. East Los Angeles
Others: Cabrillo, West Los Angeles, Long Beach City, Riverside, San Joaquin Delta, Solano, Merritt.
