Gauchos finish third at Chaffey

The Saddleback women's basketball team had its best finish of the season so far with a third place finish at the Chaffey College Panther Pride Classic.  The Gauchos beat the host Panthers, 49-36, on Sunday afternoon for third place.

Saddleback fell behind 6-2 to start the game, but quickly removed the deficit when Amy Yoshinaga and Bryanna Lopez buried three-pointers two minutes apart to give the Gauchos a 10-8 lead with 1:56 remaining in the opening quarter.  Saddleback would never trail again, opening up a 28-18 lead at the intermission.

Saddleback's defense was suffocating in the opening half, holding the Panthers without a field goal for a span 10 minutes.  The only Chaffey points were six free throws during that time frame as the Gauchos led by as many as 12 points.

Irma Ealy led the charge in the final 20 minutes, scoring 10 of her game-high 19 points in the third quarter as Saddleback stretched the lead to 14 late in the quarter.  Ealy finished 9-of-16 from the field while Hannah Saliba was dominant on the boards, finishing with a game-high 16 rebounds on the afternoon.

Saddleback is now 4-5 after the win and will play in the Allan Hancock College Tournament starting Thursday.  The Gauchos will open against Barstow College at 3:00 PM on Thursday.

Game Notes:  Saddleback Head Coach Fentriss Winn is now three wins shy of his career 200^th win (197-139).