IVC women’s basketball team cruises past Grossmont 82-35

Irvine Valley College freshman Anai Washington goes to the basket.

Irvine Valley’s women’s basketball team looked impressive in its first home game of the season on Thursday night.

The Lasers jumped ahead early and routed Grossmont 82-35 in an opening contest of the Irvine Valley Tournament.

IVC will take on Barstow, which held off Cuesta, 58-53, in a semifinal on Friday at 7 p.m. The other semifinal features Santa Monica against El Camino at 5 p.m.

Irvine Valley had five players score in double figures in the win on Thursday, led by freshman guard Megan Herrera with 22 points. She had 20 of those points in the first half. Herrera also added six assists and seven steals in the game.

Sophomore guard Lexi Vail finished with 12 points, six rebounds, six assists and three steals. Freshman guard Anai Washington ended with 10 points, sophomore forward Ryane Bradbury added 10 points, seven rebounds and four steals and freshman forward Renny Cribbin came off the bench with 10 points and eight rebounds.

Freshman center Zoe Stachowski also had a big night for the Lasers, recording 22 rebounds (11 on the offensive end). She also contributed six points and three steals.

Irvine Valley helped hold Grossmont to just 22.9 percent shooting (11 of 48) from the floor as a team. The Griffins also committed 32 turnovers with Irvine Valley recording 20 steals.

The Lasers led 25-5 at the end of the first quarter and 49-10 at the half in a dominant performance on both sides of the court.

Grossmont was paced by Chaiara Mattern and Devann Horton, who each finished with 11 points. Horton also grabbed seven rebounds.

Irvine Valley improved its record to 3-1 on the season, while Grossmont fell to 1-7.