Erika Garcia begins her third year as an assistant coach at Irvine Valley. She is also the women’s equipment manager at the college.

A former standout for the Lasers, Garcia played at Irvine Valley from 2008-10, was a two-year starter and was named first team all-Orange Empire Conference both seasons.

She averaged 10.9 points, 4.4 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 2.1 steals in her freshman season at IVC in 2008-09 and then 9.1 points, 3.4 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 2.1 steals as a sophomore in 2009-10.

As a sophomore, she was picked as the team’s best offensive player and earned the H.I.P. (Hustle, Intensity, Pride) award. She helped lead the Lasers to a record of 36-22 over those two seasons. Erika was also named Irvine Valley’s scholar athlete of the year in 2009-10.

Garcia moved on from Irvine Valley to have a successful career on and off the court at Menlo College. She graduated from Menlo in the spring of 2012.

In her senior year at Menlo, she was a 2012 Daktronics-NAIA Scholar-Athlete after leading the team to an 8-2 mark in conference and a trip to the NAIA Tournament. It was Menlo’s first trip to the tourney in five seasons.

Garcia earned several other awards at Menlo. The 5-7 guard took home her second straight all-California Pacific Conference first team distinction, averaging an impressive 11.6 points per game during the 2011-12 campaign.

She was also on the Dean’s List. In 2010-11, she averaged 11.9 points, 5.6 rebounds and 3.3 assists and was named first team all-Cal Pac for Menlo.

In addition to working at Irvine Valley, Garcia is also an instructional aid for a special education kindergarten class at Woodbury Elementary School in the Garden Grove Unified School District. During the spring, summer and fall, she also coaches a high school travel ball team.