Irvine Valley's women's basketball team is set to face Orange Empire Conference foe Fullerton in a 3C2A SoCal Regional Playoff Final on Saturday night at 7 p.m. at IVC.
The Lasers are after their 26th win of the year. IVC won the OEC title, is seeded second in the regional playoffs and have a record of 25-4 overall on the year.
Fullerton is on quite a run. The No. 23 seeded Hornets have upset their previous two opponents.
Fullerton defeated No. 7 Mt. San Jacinto, 55-52 on the road in the second round of the playoffs.
Facing one of the top teams in the state, the Hornets relied on timely shooting to get the win.
It marked the program's first trip to the third round of the playoffs since the 2011 postseason under Hall of Fame coach Debi Woelke, whose 2009-10 squad finished as the state runner-up.
Fullerton is led by Erin Choi, who averages 18.1 points, 5.4 assists and 4.7 assists per game.
Hailey Lakey averages 16.3 points and 6.8 rebounds per game for the Hornets on the year.
Irvine Valley finished the regular season ranked No. 4 in the state.
Sophomore guard Symantha Barnett was named the OEC MVP and first team all-conference, sophomore forward Kivonni Williams was the defensive player of the year and first team all-conference, and sophomore wing player Alexis Price earned first team honors.
Also for IVC, sophomore post player Gianna DeForest was selected to the all-OEC second team.
Second-year head coach Claire Gocke was picked as the coach of the year in the conference.
The Lasers received a bye in the first round of the playoff and then defeated Chaffey, 59-47, last Saturday at home.
Irvine Valley was led by Barnett with 19 points, nine rebounds, two assists, two steals and three blocks.
Sophomore forward Neryah Lokeni had one of her best games as a Laser, contributing 14 points, five rebounds, four assists and three steals.
And Price chipped in 13 points, eight rebounds, two assists and four steals for IVC.
The winner of tonight's game moves on to the 3C2A State Championship at College of the Sequoias in Visalia, Mar. 12, 14-15
