Fresh off winning the Orange Empire Conference title last Friday night at home, the Irvine Valley women's basketball team found out Monday who and where it will be playing in the upcoming California Community College Athletic Association Regional Playoffs.
The Lasers were given the No. 13 seed and will open with a second-round game at No. 4 Mt. San Antonio on Saturday at 7 p.m.
The game is a rematch of a regional final game last year where IVC upset Mt. SAC on the road, 76-71, to move on to the state tournament.
Irvine Valley has a record of 22-5 overall and won the OEC title with a mark of 12-2.
The Lasers are paced by sophomore guard Lexi Vail, freshman guards Anai Washington and Megan Herrera and freshman center Zoe Stachowski.
Herrera, Washington and Vail all had huge nights in Irvine Valley's 89-64 victory over Cypress last Friday.
Herrera ended with 29 points, four assists and four steals in 37 minutes.
Washington had 20 points, 17 rebounds, six assists and five steals in 37 minutes.
And Vail finished with 18 points, six rebounds and 10 assists in 39 minutes.
On the year, Washington is averaging 15.4 points, 6.4 rebounds and 1.8 steals, Vail is averaging 12.9 points, 5.4 rebounds, 7.1 assists and 2.4 steals, Stachowski averages 12.6 points and 13.1 rebounds and Herrera is averaging 11.1 points and 2.6 steals per game.
Mt. SAC has a record of 21-8 overall and finished third at 7-3 in the South Coast Conference – North Division, which is one of the best conferences in the state. Five teams from the North division of the SCC made the playoffs with Trade-Tech seeded second, East LA seeded third, Mt. SAC at fourth, Pasadena City at sixth and Rio Hondo at No. 12.
Mt. SAC finished the regular season with two wins in a row, beating Pasadena City, 62-57, on the road last Wednesday and then Rio Hondo, 65-48, on the road last Friday.
In the win over Rio Hondo, Natalia Shpegel led the way with 24 points, seven rebounds and four assists. Mya Victor had 17 points and seven rebounds off the bench and Jade Hughes chipped in 12 points and seven rebounds for the Mounties.
Hughes averages 12.2 points and 7.9 rebounds, Shpegel averages 11.8 points and 2.0 steals, Aujanae Mayes is averaging 8.0 points, 4.2 assists and 3.3 steals and Tianna Burrell is averaging 7.5 points and 7.0 rebounds per game.
The winner of the game will move on to a regional final on Saturday, March 9 and play either No. 5 Ventura or No. 12 Rio Hondo.
