Irvine Valley extends win streak to 17, advances to state semis with defensive win over Butte

LEMOORE--In the first CCCAA Women's Basketball Championship Tournament game in three years, South #2 seed Irvine Valley College extended its win streak to 17 games by defeating North #3 Butte, 56-48, in a state quarterfinal on Thursday.

Making their first appearance at the state tourney since 2018, the Lasers (26-2) relied on the nifty outside shooting of guard Paola Roa, who scored a game-high 23 points, including a perfect 3-for-3 from 3-point land. Orange Empire Conference champion Irvine Valley advances to the semifinals on Saturday v. the winner of N1 San Joaquin Delta/S4 Palomar.

In the third quarter, Butte tied it at 30-30 on a 3-pointer by All-State First Team forward Meghan Weinrich, but the Lasers came right back with a 7-0 run including a trey by Jessica Suruor to regain control. Roa's triple 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. Rebound and baskets by Lena Fogle and Marissa Peters sliced the Irvine Valley lead to 49-45 with 4:25 left. Cassidy King responded for Irvine Valley with a corner 3, her second of the quarter, that upped the Lasers advantage to 52-45 with 3:35 remaining. The Roadrunners couldn't mount another rally.

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 played valiantly with 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 matchup 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. While she made a solid 6-for-9 from the floor, her teammates struggled making baskets, hitting on only 3-for-23. Despite making 28.1 percent from the floor in the half, it was still slightly better than Butte (8-for-30) at 26.7.

Butte's Kelsey Zelenski made a 3-pointer that bounced off the rim and rolled in that kept her team within three points by halftime. 

Release by Robert Lewis, for CCCAA