Saliba leads charge for second straight win

The Saddleback women's basketball team won its second straight game with a 52-49 win at Orange Coast College on Wednesday night in Costa Mesa.  Sophomore Hannah Saliba scored 17 points as the Gauchos moved up in the conference standings.

After a rough start to the Orange Empire Conference schedule the Saddleback women seem to have found their stride.  The Gauchos went on the road and beat what was previously the #2 team in the standings, and seemingly played stride-for-stride with a program ranked in the top-15 in Southern California in the Ratings Percentage Index (RPI). 

Saddleback fell behind 8-0 in the opening two minutes as Orange Coast came out hot.  The Gauchos rallied by going to the basket, scoring easy baskets as Irma Ealy had two straight layups to start the surge.  Saliba then had two of her own before Kara Ito and Teoncea Bennett also scored on layups with the time winding down in the quarter.  The The Gauchos took the lead with four seconds remaining in the quarter when Ealy went to the hole for a 16-15 lead. 

The two teams traded baskets to start the second quarter before the Gauchos went ice cold.  Saddleback was silent for 4.5 minutes while Orange Coast opened up a 26-18 lead.  Again, however, the Gauchos weren't going to go down quietly.  Saliba took over, scoring six straight points to close out the half as Saddleback drew within four at 29-25.  It gave her 10 points and six rebounds over the first two quarters and seemingly gave the Gauchos the confidence they needed heading into the second 20 minutes.

Saliba again opened the scoring in the second half when she made a layup to get the Gauchos within two points at 29-27 with 8:48 remaining in the third quarter.  She would again score on the final possession of the quarter to get the Gauchos within one with 10 minutes remaining in the game.

Orange Coast came out cold in the fourth quarter, failing to score over the first 2:40.  The Gauchos finally took back the lead when RaShawna Williams scored for a 41-40 advantage in the opening minute of the quarter.

Saddleback returned the favor by going silent for a stretch.  The Gauchos went 6:12 without scoring a point, going 0-for-3 from the field while turning the ball over twice and committing four personal fouls.  Orange Coast finally made good on a few shots in taking a 46-42 lead into the final five minutes of the contest.

From that point forward the game was on the shoulders of two players, Saliba and Bennett.  The two scored eight of the final 10 points for the Gauchos while the defense shut down the Pirate offense.  Saliba's layup with 1:48 remaining evened the score at 46-46.  Bennett would then get to the free throw line with under a minute remaining, burying both shots as the Gauchos took a 48-47 lead with 57 seconds remaining. 

With time running down, Sarah Nunes got to the free throw line for Orange Coast by drawing a foul on Saliba with 11 seconds remaining.  Nunes made both free throws to give the Pirates the lead, forcing Saddleback to make a shot in the final seconds. 

The Gauchos responded quickly, with Bennett driving to the hole and scoring with seven seconds remaining for a 50-49 lead.  Orange Coast then tried a desperation three-pointer which was rebounded by Ito, who was quickly fouled.  Ito buried both free throws with under a second remaining, giving Saddleback its second straight win to end the opening round of conference play.

Saliba finished with a game-high 17 points and 13 rebounds in the win.  Bennett would finish with 15 points and seven steals as the Gaucho defense held Orange Coast to 32% shooting for the game.

Saddleback (9-15, 2-4) moved into a tie for fifth place with Santa Ana in the standings, just one game back of Riverside and two games out of second place.  The Gauchos will try to run the winning streak to three games next Wednesday when they travel to Riverside.  Tip time is scheduled for 5:00 PM.