The Irvine Valley women's basketball team's chance at an Orange Empire Conference title took a big hit on Wednesday night.
The Lasers fell to Riverside, 57-56, after a wild final few seconds at Riverside.
Britney Gonzalez' driving layin with 6.8 seconds to play lifted the Riverside to the victory.
Irvine Valley missed a pair of free throws with 15.6 seconds left and nursing a 56-55 lead.
Gonzalez drove to the hoop and scored.
She finished with 17 points.
IVC had one last chance. The Lasers inbounded the ball, nearly turned it over, got it back and sophomore guard Erika Mercado threw a pass ahead to freshman forward Kydell Pearson.
Pearson tried to finish a layup as time expired, but the shot was called off as the final buzzer sounded and light on the backboard went off.
Riverside (17-11, 7-5 OEC) was paced by Jordan Lofton, who had a game-high 21 points.
Paradise Hanchett had a game-high 14 rebounds for RCC.
Freshman forward Kasey Smit had a team-high 17 points and seven rebounds for Irvine Valley (20-7, 8-3 OEC).
Pearson had 16 points and eight rebounds for the Lasers. Sophomore guard Jordan Coleman chipped in eight points and seven assists.
The Lasers fell a game behind Cypress for first place in the conference standings with one game to play in the regular season. Cypress defeated Santa Ana on Wednesday night.
IVC, ranked seventh in Southern California, is at Santa Ana on Friday at 5 p.m.
The annual OEC coaches meeting which will feature the selection of the All-OEC teams will take place on Saturday, Feb. 20, at Santa Ana College.
On Sunday, Feb. 21, the annual seeding meeting for the California Community College Athletic Association (CCCAA) South Regional Playoffs will take place.
