Irvine Valley's women's basketball team opens its 2016-17 season on Saturday night with a home game against Santa Barbara City at 5 p.m.
Lasers are ranked No. 10 in the South Region Preseason Poll by the California Community College Women's Basketball Coaches Association. The top five teams are Mt. San Antonio, Mt. San Jacinto, East LA, Ventura and Palomar. And the sixth through 10th teams are Long Beach City, Cypress, Pasadena City, Riverside and IVC.
Irvine Valley has reached the Southern California Regional finals two straight years.
IVC is coming a season where it had a record of 23-8 overall and was 9-3 in the Orange Empire Conference.
Irvine Valley finished second in the OEC after winning the conference title in 2015-16.
The Lasers won two playoff games last season, including upsetting Long Beach City, 45-39, in the third round.
IVC lost a tough regional final game to top-seeded Mt. SAC, 56-51, on the road.
Four players ended up getting four-year scholarships off of the squad.
Irvine Valley returns forward Kydell Perason and guard Aaleah Brown from last year's team. Guard Serena Saba is also back after red-shirting.
Pearson averaged 8.0 points and 5.3 rebounds and Brown averaged 2.7 points for the Lasers.
Irvine Valley is home again next Thursday against San Diego City at 6 p.m.
