Gauchos blast Chaffey for third place

The Saddleback women's basketball team bounced back from a loss in the Orange Coast Christmas Classic with a 62-37 win over Chaffey College on Wednesday evening in Costa Mesa.  The Gauchos took the lead two minutes into the game and never looked back.

Saddleback was still stinging a bit after losing to high-powered Palomar on Tuesday in the semifinals and decided to take it out on Chaffey.  The Gauchos dominated a Chaffey team that entered the tournament at 8-5, running them off the court by half time. 

Saddleback was stifling in the defensive zone, surrendering just six points in each of the first two quarters in building a 33-12 lead at the intermission.  The Gauchos forced 18 turnovers in the opening 20 minutes while the Panthers were just 6-of-17 from the field.

Saddleback took the lead at the 8:13 mark of the opening quarter when Kiazha Ginwright had a layup for a 6-4 lead.  It began a 13-0 run by the Gauchos, who didn't allow a point to Chaffey for 8:37 until the Panthers finally finished off the quarter with a basket with seven seconds remaining. 

The second quarter began the same way as Saddleback scored the first eight points of the quarter while the lead grew to 25-6.  Irma Ealy finished off the run with two straight layups before both squads went ice cold for the rest of the quarter.  Chaffey finished with 10 turnovers in the second quarter alone while Saddleback was 0-for-9 from three-point range.

Ginwright put on a show in the third quarter.  The sophomore scored 11 points on way to a game-high of 24.  Ginwright was 5-of-8 from the field during the quarter while collecting four rebounds and dishing out two assists as the lead grew to 52-26 by the end of the quarter.

Ginwright finished 11-of-20 from the field for the day while collecting six rebounds.  Janae Omusi was a force inside on the glass, finishing with a game-high nine rebounds.  Ealy chipped in with 12 points on the night.

Saddleback is now 11-4 on the season.  The Gauchos were ranked No. 18 in the state in the latest coach's poll conducted on December 19.  Saddleback has the No. 7 Rating Percentage Index (RPI) in Southern California following the win.

The Gauchos will play in the Husky Classic at East Los Angeles College on December 27-29.  They open with the University of Antelope Valley JV team on Tuesday at 2:00 PM.