Pirates tip off tonight

occ women’s hoops preOCC’s women’s basketball team, which plays host to Palomar at 5 p.m., returns four players for this year’s team.Just to be on the safe side, Orange Coast College women’s basketball coach Mike Thornton did a little extra recruiting over the summer.

As his team dwindled to seven players throughout the second half of last season, and five players during the final minutes of the last game, the Pirates were reduced “from a limp to a crawl,” Thornton said then.

But this year, the depth is the biggest turnabout, as OCC faces its first test this year in a nonconference game against visiting Palomar at 5 p.m. tonight.

“My coach didn’t want to end up with seven players again,” sophomore guard Valerie Katayama said. “He did a lot of recruiting.”

The Pirates, who lost to Moorpark, 77-69, in overtime of a play-in contest in the Southern California Regional playoffs last season, return four players to a squad that went 17-13, 7-7 in the Orange Empire Conference -- good for fourth.

Katayama is one of three tri-captains set to lead the team, while two key newcomers will be looking to have their presence felt.

But the deepest difference, according to Thornton, lies in the depth.

“I almost feel like we’re too deep,” Thornton said. “We haven’t been this deep since 1993, which was the first team that went to the final eight in state.”

Sophomore guards Crystal McCormick and Teeya Fernandez round out the captains, while sophomore forward Nancy Castro also returns from last season’s team.

In the newcomer department, sophomore forwards Jillian Ricks and Madison Parks appear to be intriguing transfers for the Pirates.

Ricks, who transferred from Weber State in Utah, averaged 1.7 points and 2.0 points for the Wildcats last year. Ricks transferred for personal reasons, Thornton said.

Parks, the sister of former Duke star Cherokee Parks -- who went on to play for nine years in the NBA on various teams -- joins the Pirates after transferring from Golden West.

Both Parks and Ricks, the tallest players on the team at 6-foot-3 an 6-1, respectively, will add height, something the team didn’t have last year, Katayama said.

“That should be really helpful to our team,” said Katayama, who was second in the OEC in assists per game (4.7 average) and sixth in 3-point field goal percentage (36%), both tops on the squad last year.

“Jillian, she should help us out a lot. She’s really strong in the post, but can also shoot threes and bring it out on the perimeter.”

Thornton said Katayama, McCormick and Ricks will definitely be in the starting five, but the remaining two spots are still up in the air.

Thornton said his expectations for the team are also up in the air.

“We want to be the best team our ability allows us to be by the end of the season,” he said. “I just want to keep the team focused day-to-day, and if I do that, everything will be fine.”

The Pirates, who won the state title in 2003, will be without all-conference selection Rhondi Naff, who transferred to Cal State Bakersfield.

THE PIRATES ROSTER

5 Laurie Denning Fr.

11 Teeya Fernandez So.

12 Meg Adessian Fr.

13 Dianna Kim Fr.

14 Valerie Katayama So.

15 Devin Hundley Fr.

20 Crystal McCormick So.

22 Kristen Cabral Fr.

24 Nancy Castro So.

25 Meghan Maxwell Fr.

32 Jillian Ricks So.

33 Madison Parks So.

Coach: Mike Thornton (17th year)20051108i8zykwkfKENT TREPTOW / DAILY PILOT(LA)OCC’s Valerie Katayama, front, returns this year as one of team’s tri-captains.