Women's basketball team pulls away early to beat Santa Ana

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

Irvine Valley's women's basketball team had about as good of a start as you can get Friday night at Santa Ana.

The Lasers opened the game, out-scoring Santa Ana, 32-4, and went on to an easy 89-63 Orange Empire Conference win.

Irvine Valley, ranked No. 9 in the state, improved its record to 15-2 overall and 3-0 in conference.

The Lasers scored the first 13 points of the game and led, 31-4, at the end of the first quarter after shooting 52.1 percent (11 of 21) from the field and holding the Dons to just 13.3 percent (2 of 15).

Santa Ana also turned the ball over eight times in the first 10 minutes.

Irvine Valley scored the first point of the second quarter to go up, 32-4. The Lasers led by as many as 32 points in the second quarter.

And the Lasers took a 50-23 lead into halftime.

IVC cruised the rest of the way.

Freshman guards Jessica Suruor and Morgan Higgins each finished with a game-high 20 points. Higgins also added four rebounds, four assists and four steals.

Sophomore guard Anai Washington put up another double-double with 17 points and 14 rebounds. She added eight assists and three steals.

And sophomore forward Zoe Stachowski contributed 14 points and 13 rebounds for the Lasers.

Irvine Valley is back in action next Wednesday, hosting Riverside at 5 p.m.