Irvine Valley's women's basketball team bounced back from a rough loss to Riverside at home on Tuesday with an important 81-60 victory over Copper Mountain on the road Thursday night.
The victory along with Cypress losing to Fullerton, moved Irvine Valley back into a tie for first place in the Orange Empire Conference standings.
IVC improved to 20-5 overall and 10-2 in conference.
The Lasers, ranked No. 17 in the state, have two more games left in the regular season, hosting Santa Ana next Wednesday at 6 p.m. and then No. 19 Cypress on Friday at 7 p.m.
Irvine Valley got off to a solid start at Copper Mountain. The Lasers led, 25-13, after the first quarter and, 47-32, at the half.
IVC put the game away by holding Copper Mountain to just 10 points in the third quarter.
Irvine Valley was up by as many as 28 points in the fourth quarter before cruising to the 21-point victory.
All five IVC starting players scored in double figures. Sophomore guard Lexi Vail had 19 points and five rebounds, freshman center Zoe Stachowski finished with 16 points and 14 rebounds, freshman guard Megan Herrera added 12 points and freshman guard Anai Washington and sophomore forward Ryane Bradbury each contributed 11 points. Washington also had seven rebounds.
Copper Mountain was paced by LeLisa Watson with 27 points and eight rebounds. Chezerae Bogan-Osbey had 17 points and nine rebounds.