Irvine Valley's women's basketball team has its sights set on going deep in the playoffs once again.
The Lasers, who won two postseason games last year and reached the Southern California Regional Playoff Finals, are a top-five seed in this year's postseason.
After finishing with a 21-6 record and playing one of the top schedules in the state, Irvine Valley was named the fifth seed for the regional playoffs.
The fifth-seeded Lasers host No. 12 Cerritos on Friday at 7 p.m.
It is the second straight year that IVC will host Cerritos in the second round.
Irvine Valley was second in the Orange Empire Conference, finishing one game behind champion Cypress.
But IVC moved ahead of Cypress and many others in the So. Cal. playoff draw after earning several quality wins throughout the campaign.
Irvine Valley has beaten the likes of No. 7 No. Cal. team Foothill, No. 7 So. Cal. team Cypress, No. 9 So. Cal team Canyons, No. 11 So. Cal team Santa Ana (twice), No. 13 So. Cal. team Riverside, No. 16 So. Cal. team Orange Coast and No. 19 team Rio Hondo.
Cerritos finished second in the South Coast Conference South Division. The Falcons have a record of 20-10 overall and were 6-2 in conference.
Cerritos is coming off an impressive 64-43 win over division champion Long Beach City last Friday at home. Allyson O'Brien had 15 points and seven rebounds, Clarissa Hernandez finished with 11 points and three rebounds, Kennedi Cooper added 10 points and seven rebounds and Ashley Flores and seven points and 13 rebounds for Cerritos in the win.
Long Beach City is the No. 4 seed in the So. Cal. Regional Playoffs.
The Falcons have been led by O'Brien, who is scoring 10.9 points and 3.0 rebounds a game to go with her 32 three-pointers. Cooper accounts for 7.9 points and 3.7 rebounds a game, with Miranda Valentin checking in with 7.7 points and 6.2 rebounds a game.
Flores leads the team with 7.2 rebounds a game and scores 7.5 points per game.
Irvine Valley is coming off one of its best performances of the season.
The Lasers defeated the 11th-seeded playoff team in the south, Santa Ana, by 32 points at Santa Ana last Friday. IVC won, 72-40.
Irvine Valley was up, 41-24, at halftime and then out-scored Santa Ana, 31-16, in the second half for the dominant win.
The Lasers took their largest lead of the game at 70-37 with 2:07 remaining in the game on a three-pointer by freshman forward Kydell Pearson.
Pearson ended with a game-high 20 points. She was 8 of 9 from the field, 2 of 2 on three-pointers and made 2 of 3 free throws.
Freshman forward Kasey Smit added 16 points and 10 rebounds. She made 7 of 12 shots.
Sophomore guard Tara Casey chipped in 11 points, five rebounds and three steals and sophomore forward De'Jerre Scurry contributed eight points and five rebounds for IVC.
Irvine Valley is led by four all-Orange Empire Conference team players.
Casey, who was named all-conference for a second straight year, is averaging 10.8 points, 5.3 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.6 steals a game and has made a team-high 53 three-pointers this season.
Sophomore guard Jordan Coleman was also named all-conference first team for the second straight season. Coleman was also selected as an honorable mention All-American pick last year.
The do-everything guard is averaging 8.7 points, 3.6 assists, 3.5 rebounds and 2.0 steals per game.
Smit and sophomore forward Morgan Bryant were each named second team all-conference.
Smit averaged 9.5 points and 7.4 rebounds game and Bryant averaged 7.8 points and 6.3 rebounds per game. Bryant led the team in field goal percentage at 57.5 percent.
Pearson has had a solid year as well, averaging 8.4 points and 5.2 rebounds per game and sophomore point guard Erika Mercado makes the team go. She averages a team-best 4.2 assists per game.
The winner of Friday night's game will take on the winner of No. 4 Long Beach City and No. 13 Riverside next Wednesday. The Long Beach City and Riverside game is Saturday night at Long Beach.
