Orange County Community College Roundup : Golden West Women Advance, 113-78

The Golden West women’s basketball team qualified for the state tournament with a 113-78 victory over Cypress Friday at Huntington Beach in a women’s Southern Section state playoff regional game.

It was the 16th consecutive victory for the Rustlers (32-1), who are ranked second in the state behind College of the Sequoias.

Golden West will be one of four representatives from the Southern Division in the state tournament at Cypress College that starts Thursday.

The Rustlers were led by sophomore April Marion, who scored a game-high 30 points. It was 24th time in 33 games that Marion has been the top scorer for Golden West. Marion was averaging 23.1 points a game going into Friday’s game.

Marion scored 16 points in the first half and teammates Jane Utu and Stacy Barnes added 10 points each as the Rustlers raced to a 52-39 first-half lead. Utu and Barnes each finished with 18 points.

Six of the seven Golden West players scored in double figures as Jeannine Battaglia scored 15, Karen Chase 14 and Pee Wee Kemper 10. Starting point guard Kim Takayama had seven points.

Golden West, which defeated Palomar, 88-58, in the opening round Tuesday, is the leading offensive team in the state, averaging 85.4 points a game.

Karen Chires scored 26 points to lead Cypress and Janene Allen added 14.

The Chargers (20-10) were without Pam Fritsch, the team’s leading scorer (17.3) and rebounder (12.5).

The Rustlers last won the state title in 1979, when they went 30-0.

In nonconference baseball play:

Saddleback 6, Palomar 3--Todd Bush pitched the final 4 innings to get the victory for the Gauchos (3-5) at home. Rob Shoff was 3 for 4 with an RBI and a run scored for Saddleback and teammate Chad Fouts was 3 for 5 with two singles and a double. Scott Hefner was 2 for 5.

In nonconference softball play:

Rancho Santiago 17, Pasadena City 3--The Dons (5-5) set a school record with 17 hits in the victory at Pasadena City. The old record was 15, set in 1985 and tied last season.

Christi Kalehuawehe hit a grand slam in the second inning for Rancho Santiago, which scored six runs in that inning. Kalehuawehe was 2 for 4 with five RBIs.

Rancho Santiago also scored four runs in the fourth and seven in the seventh. Nine of the 17 runs were unearned as Pasadena City made seven errors.

Lee Bladow broke a 1-for-23 slump for the season by going 4 for 5 with three RBIs for the Dons, and teammate Sandy Martinez scored three runs.

In Cypress Tournament play:

Golden West 6, Chaffey 2--Karen Nakamaru pitched a one-hitter to led the Rustlers (7-3) to a first-round victory at Arnold Park.

Roseann Flores was 3 for 3 for Golden West and is hitting .489.

In South Coast Conference volleyball:

Orange Coast 3, La Verne 0--Brian Lewis had 16 kills to lead the Pirates (3-0) at home. Dan Murray had 6 kills and Charles Cutanese had 25 assists.