Season comes to a close

The Saddleback women's basketball season came to a close on Friday night with a 68-57 loss to Riverside City College inside the Saddleback gymnasium.  The Bobcats finished the 2024-25 campaign at 7-21 overall.

Saddleback started the night by honoring all of the sophomores in the program for a job well done.  Moanike'ala Scott, Malia Garcia and Kayla Musurlian were all surrounded by friends and family before taking the court for the last time in the cardinal and gold.

Saddleback played tough throughout, making Riverside City work for the win.  The Bobcats led at the half 33-26 after Kalena Akinaka and Makayla Rutledge both put up 11 points over the first 20 minutes of play.  Unfortunately, the team wouldn't be able to hang on to the win as the Tigers surged past the Bobcats in the third quarter and finished with an 11-point victory.

Rutledge finished with a team-high 23 points while Garcia finished with a team-high 12 rebounds.  Akinaka also finished in double-digits with 17 points for the game.

Saddleback finishes the season at 7-21 overall.  It marks the end of the first season for head coach Jordan Hamamoto, who now gets to start his first full season of recruiting to prepare for the 2025-26 campaign.  The Bobcats have already announced on social media a couple of solid commitments for next season, with more expected in the coming weeks.