Irvine Valley's women's basketball team opens the California Community College Athletic Association Regional Playoffs on Friday night at home against MiraCosta.
The Lasers earned the No. 6 seed and take on No. 11 MiraCosta in a second-round game at 7 p.m. at IVC.
IVC finished a perfect Orange Empire Conference schedule with a 64-49 win over Fullerton at home last Friday.
The triumph pushed IVC's record to 24-2 overall and 12-0 in conference.
Irvine Valley won its third OEC title in a row.
Sophomore guard Anai Washington and sophomore center Zoe Stachowski had big nights.
Washington finished with 20 points and 16 rebounds and Stachowski had 17 points and 18 rebounds for the Lasers.
Sophomore guard Kelli Murakami-Hanashiro added 10 points off the bench and freshman guard Samantha Uehara had six points and seven rebounds for IVC.
Washington was named the MVP of the Orange Empire Conference this week with Stachowski and Higgins earning first-team honors and freshman guard Jessica Suruor being picked to the second team.
Coach Julie Hanks, in her 23rd year, was named the conference's coach of the year for the second straight season.
IVC was ranked as high as No. 4 in the state this season.
On the year, Washington is averaging 17.9 points, 10.0 rebounds, 3.9 assists and 2.3 steals and Stachowski averages 16.9 points and 12.3 rebounds per game. Higgins averages 12.1 points, 4.8 assists and 3.2 steals, Suruor averages 6.6 points and Uehara is averaging 6.6 points a game for Irvine Valley.
MiraCosta has a record of 20-5 overall and went 12-0 to win the Pacific Coast Athletic Conference title.
The last conference title for the Spartans happened in the early 1980's.
MiraCosta defeated reigning PCAC power Palomar twice this season, including on Feb. 12 with a 59-52 victory to wrap up the conference title.
MiraCosta closed out the regular season with a 81-42 win over San Diego City at home.
Julia Iman had 24 points, nine rebounds and 12 assists and Emmy Wieman and Kiva Reyes each added 12 points. Wiemann also had eight rebounds.
Iman was named her conference's MVP and Chynna Cochran and Savannah Beasley were each picked to the first team. Wiemann earned second-team honors.
On the year, Cochran is averaging 18.0 points, 4.5 rebounds and 2.6 steals, Iman averages 14.1 points, 6.6 rebounds, 6.2 assists and 2.4 steals per game, Beasley averages 8.7 points, 6.9 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.6 steals and Reyes is averaging 7.4 points and 2.0 steals per game for the Spartans.
