Irvine Valley's women's basketball team took care of business Friday night at Santa Ana, remained undefeated in the Orange Empire Conference and set up a showdown for next Wednesday.
The Lasers, ranked No. 14 in the state, defeated Santa Ana, 77-56, to improve their record to 16-3 overall and 7-0 in conference.
The win kept IVC a game ahead of Cypress in the conference standings. The Lasers play at second-place Cypress on Wednesday at 7 p.m.
Irvine Valley got off to a slow start at Santa Ana Friday, but picked it up in the second quarter.
After leading only 15-12 after the first quarter, the Lasers out-scored the Dons, 25-14, to take control.
IVC took a 40-26 lead into the break and then put the game away in the third-quarter by holding Santa Ana to only nine points.
The Lasers were up, 61-35, heading into the fourth quarter and cruised from there.
IVC shot 50.8 percent (33 of 65) from the field as a team, while Santa Ana shot just 31.8 percent (21 of 66).
Freshman guard Anai Washington finished with a game-high 21 points. She also added 11 rebounds.
Freshman center Zoe Stachowski had 18 points and 16 rebounds, sophomore guard Lexi Vail chipped in 10 points and seven rebounds and freshman guards Megan Herrera and Emma Vasquez each contributed eight points for the Lasers.
Lexi Ross paced Santa Ana (5-14, 1-5) with 16 points.
IVC's game on Wednesday at Cypress wraps up the first round of conference play. IVC has four straight games on the road (Cypress, Orange Coast, Fullerton and Saddleback) before returning home to take on Riverside on Feb. 12 at 7 p.m.
