Omusi grabs conference MVP honors
The Saddleback women's basketball team won 20+ games for the first time in nine years this season and will likely enter the playoffs with home court advantage on opening weekend. Janae Omusi was the breadwinner at the Orange Empire Conference post-season meeting on Saturday, winning the conference MVP.
Omusi transferred in from Iowa Western College during the off-season and quickly established herself as a leader on the court. She averaged 19.9 points-per-game during the season with 9.3 rebounds, scoring in double figures in 28-of-30 games (including the last 15 in a row). Omusi finished with 13 double-doubles and had a season-high 35 points against Fullerton College on January 25. She ended up beating out previous conference-MVP Blaysen Varnadoe (Santa Ana) for the award. Rounding out the top-5 in the conference MVP voting were Riverside's Chiderah Uzowuru, Cypress' Sylvia Garcia and Orange Coast's Michelle Wu.
Joining Omusi on the first team was Kiazha Ginwright, who led the team in steals (3.8 pg), blocks (1.8 pg) and free throw shooting (77.8%). Ginwright scored in double-figures 17 times, including a season-high 28 points last week against Santa Ana.
Kara Ito and Laura Tapia were named to the Orange Empire Conference Second Team on Saturday. Ito was a pillar of consistency at point guard, dishing out a team-high 166 assists while turning the ball over just 106 times in 1,042 minutes-of-play. She had a team-high 14 points against Irvine Valley on February 1 while recording a program-record 12 assists against the University of Antelope Valley JV on December 27. Tapia was a sharpshooter from the outside for Saddleback, leading the team with 65 made three-pointers for the year while finishing second on the team in steals (58), assists (91) and total points (370). Tapia had a season-high 24 points on two occasions with a season-high six three-pointers against Santa Ana on January 20.
The coaching staff was also recognized when head coach Fentriss Winn was named the Orange Empire Conference co-coach-of-the-year along with Cypress coach Margaret Mohr. It was the third time Winn has won coach-of-the-year honors in his 13 seasons at the helm and he enters the playoffs with an overall record of 224-163.
Playoff seeds will be announced on Monday, with the Gauchos expected to be at home either next Friday or Saturday night. Keep it tuned to Saddlebackgauchos.com for all the latest news or follow the breaking news on Twitter with the Gaucho Dude @SCGauchos.