The Irvine Valley women's basketball team dominated overtime and came away with a very important, 77-63, Orange Empire Conference victory at Cypress on Friday night.
The battle featured two unbeaten teams in the conference. Irvine Valley was also ranked No. 7 in the state with Cypress 12th.
Irvine Valley snapped Cypress' nine-game win streak and improved its record to 17-2 overall and 5-0 in conference.
Cypress started strong in the first quarter with a lead 12-10.
The Lasers stepped it up in the second quarter with 18 points as the Chargers struggled to answer. Irvine Valley led, 28-25, at the half.
But it was back and forth from there.
IVC carried just a one-point (44-43) lead into the fourth quarter.
And the game was tied at 58 with 21 seconds left in the quarter. Cypress had possession, but Pressila Blanco came up short on a three-pointer and the game headed to overtime.
In the extra period, Irvine out-scored Cypress, 19-5.
Sophomore guard Anai Washington, sophomore post player Zoe Stachowski and freshman guard Morgan Higgins controlled the overtime for the Lasers.
Washington had seven points, Higgins provided six points and four rebounds and Stachowski added six points.
For the game, Stachowski finished with 20 points, 16 rebounds and three assists, Washington had 17 points, 12 rebounds and two steals and Higgins ended up with 13 points, 13 rebounds and seven assists.
Freshman guard Jessica Suruor chipped in eight points, three assists and two steals and sophomore guard Kelli Murakami-Hanashiro had six points for IVC.
IVC out-rebounded Cypress, 61-41, won second chance points (22-4) and out-scored Cypress in the paint, 40-22.
Irvine Valley is back in action on Wednesday, traveling to Fullerton for a 5 p.m. conference game.
