Five Teams in Orange Empire Make Playoffs

Golden West, the Orange Empire Conference champion, was one of five teams from the conference to receive berths in the Southern California women’s basketball playoffs as the pairings were announced Sunday.

The Rustlers (26-5) are the second-seeded team and play Thursday. Saddleback (16-10), Cypress (21-11), Riverside (12-14) and Orange Coast (20-12) also made the 20-team field.

In Tuesday’s first round, No. 20 OCC is at No. 13 Southwestern (14-9) and No. 19 San Diego Mesa (13-13) is at No. 14 Oxnard (13-14). No. 18 Cuesta (20-10) is at No. 15 Santa Monica (17-14) and No. 17 Riverside (12-14) is at No. 16 Los Angeles Trade Tech (14-17).

The four winners advance to Thursday’s second round. In games involving Orange Empire Conference teams, Golden West plays host to the winner of Santa Monica and Cuesta. No. 10 Saddleback is at No. 7 Long Beach (16-10) and No. 12 Cypress is at No. 5 Alan Hancock (19-7).

Ventura (24-2) is top-seeded and plays the winner of Riverside and Los Angeles Trade Tech on Thursday.

The third round is Saturday and the four winners advance to the State tournament, March 2-4 at Orange Coast College.