Irvine Valley's women's basketball team, ranked No. 2 in Southern California, won its 17th straight game.
And the victory was a big one. The Lasers defeated No. 3 from No. Cal. Butte, 56-48, on Thursday to move on to the semifinals of the California Community College Athletics Association State Championship on Saturday.
IVC will play No. 1 from No. Cal. and the top-ranked team in the state, San Joaquin Delta, on Saturday at 1 p.m. Delta defeated Palomar, 72-66, in another quarterfinal Thursday night.
Making their first appearance at the state tourney since 2018, the Lasers (26-2) relied on the nifty outside shooting of sophomore guard Paola Roa, who scored a game-high 23 points, including a perfect 3 for 3 from three-point range.
In the third quarter, Butte tied it at 30-30 on a three-pointer by all-State first team forward Meghan Weinrich, but the Lasers came right back with a 7-0 run, including a three-pointer by sophomore guard Jessica Suruor to regain control.
Roa's three-pointer with 25 seconds left in the period gave IVC its biggest lead at 45-36.
While Irvine Valley was content to set up for the long-range shot, Butte kept up with a follow-ups and strong offensive rebounding, making up 16 of their 38 boards.
Rebounds and baskets by Lena Fogle and Marissa Peters sliced the Irvine Valley lead to 49-45 with 4:25 left.
But Irvine Valley was able to close the game out.
For IVC, both Suruor and Higgins, an all-State first team guard, scored 10 each and Katie Nguyen pulled down 13 rebounds with three points.
For Butte (23-7), appearing at the state tourney for the first time since 2003, Weinrich had 14 points, 13 rebounds, four assists and three steals while Fogle added 13 points and nine boards.
The Roadrunners saw a 14-game win streak snapped.
As two of the state's top four teams in least points allowed per game (IVC #2, Butte #4), the match-up produced a predictably low-scoring first half with Irvine Valley leading, 10-7, after one quarter and just, 22-19, by halftime.
Roa scored the Lasers first seven points and had 14 in the opening 20 minutes.
