Orange Coast College Women to Face Cypress in Orange Empire Showdown

The Orange Coast College women’s basketball team will play host to Cypress in a showdown for first place in the Orange Empire Conference at 7:30 tonight.

Orange Coast (13-11, 4-1) trails Cypress (18-7, 5-0) by a game as the second round of conference play starts tonight. OCC has four consecutive victories and last lost in the conference opener at Cypress, 70-55, on Jan. 13. Cypress has five straight victories.

Gilly Powell of OCC, the leading scorer in the state, is averaging 23 points a game. Powell, a freshman forward from Woodbridge High School, leads the team with 9.8 rebounds a game. Kim Ellerman is averaging 14 points for OCC.

Vicky Silva, a freshman guard, is averaging 16 points a game to lead Cypress, which has all five starters averaging in double figures.

In other Orange Empire Conference women’s games: Riverside is at Rancho Santiago and Citrus at Saddleback. Both games are at 7:30 p.m.

In South Coast Conference women’s games: Golden West (25-1, 9-0) will try for its 25th consecutive victory tonight against visiting El Camino, and second-place Fullerton (19-7, 7-2) is at Long Beach. Both games start at 7:30 p.m.