Gauchos womens basketball falls short in tournament
Gauchos Womens Basketball failed to seat itself in the top three in the latest tournament which took place Nov. 30 and concluded on Dec. 2nd. The Gauchos entered the tournament with a record of 5-5, and first played Barstow college. Barstow put up a fight but was defeated by Saddleback by the score of 55 to 52. Saddleback was led by Freshman Myishia Watkins and Freshman Brooke Wright, both players scored 11 points during the first contest.
The second game of the tournament saw Saddleback take on Chaffey College, The Panthers held a record of 4-1, and had defeated Citrus College in their first game of the tournament. Saddleback was also coming off their win against Barstow, as both teams looked to continue their winning ways, the game started rough for Saddleback. The Panthers outscored the Gauchos 13 to 1 in the first quarter, the Gauchos missed their first 10 shots and failed to get a field goal until there was only 12:16 left in the first half. But despite the bad start Saddleback didn’t go quietly, they managed to scratch their way back several times in the contest, the first time saw the Gauchos close the scoring gap by a margin of five points. The second half started the exact same way as the first, with the Panthers outscoring the Gauchos 13-1. Once again the Gauchos clawed their way back, and with 1:08 left in the game cut the Panthers lead to five points. The Panthers would outlast the Gauchos by the final score of 69-62. Sophomore Karla Roacha-Cota led the Gauchos with a team high 16 points and a game high 16 rebounds.
Saddlebacks final game of the tournament was a third-place game. Saddleback took on Irvine Valley in a battle of the sister schools. The Gauchos once again found themselves down by a substantial lead of 14 points during the second half of the game, but as the previous two games showed, the Gauchos possessed resilience. With 9:39 left in the final quarter the Gauchos managed to claim the lead 44-43. The Lazers had difficulty scoring a field goal during the last five minutes of the game, but finished off the Gauchos with their consistent free throws, the Lazers were 27 for 37 from the line. The final seconds ticked away and Saddleback fell short for fourth place while the Lazers enjoyed a third place victory. For the Lazers, Sophomore Amber Wharton had her best game of the weekend scoring 22 points, eight of them rebounds, and four assists. Sophomore Shomari McCorckle had ten points and eight rebounds and was named to the All-Tournament team. For the Gauchos Freshman Myishia Watkins once again shined, scoring a team high 14 points and a game high seven steals.
The Gauchos will play next on Thursday Dec. 6 in the “Allan Hancock Tournament.” The time has yet to be decided but the location is at Allan Hancock College.