Cats red hot for seventh straight

The Saddleback women's basketball team won its seventh straight game with a 79-69 victory at Santa Ana College on Friday night in Santa Ana.  The Bobcats are now 12 games over .500 for the first time since 2017. 

Saddleback was sizzling hot from the field all night, trailing for just 52 seconds the entire game.  Santa Ana scored first to take the lead, but Saddleback quickly responded and grabbed the lead for good at the 5:54 mark of the opening quarter when Nina Saiki made a layup for a 5-4 lead.  It would be the start of a great night for Saiki, who finished with a career-high 25 points on 10-of-15 shooting from the field and 5-of-8 shooting from three-point range.

As good as Saiki was, Kalynne Mendez finished with a team-high 26 points for the night.  Mendez scored 15 points in the second half alone, making 5-of-7 shots from the field while making 3-of-4 free throws. 

Santa Ana tied the game three times in the third quarter but could never take the lead.  Mendez gave the Bobcats the lead for good at the 1:57 mark of the quarter when she made a layup for a 49-47 advantage.  It was the start of a 17-4 run over a 4:09 span, giving Saddleback a 64-51 lead with under eight minutes remaining in the game.    The Bobcats would take their biggest lead of the night at 2:26 of the fourth quarter when Mendez buried a three-pointer for a 76-60 advantage.

Saddleback remained red hot from the outside all night, easily having their best performance of the season from beyond the arc.  The Bobcats were 13-of-21 from long range after entering the game shooting just 27% from long range for the year.   The 13 makes from three-point range were the fourth highest total this season. 

Saddleback is now 16-4 overall and 4-0 in Orange Empire Conference (OEC) play for the year.  The Bobcats have a 1.5-game lead on Orange Coast College, Irvine Valley College and Cypress College, who are all 2-1 in conference play.  It is the first time the program has been 12 games above .500 since the 2016-17 campaign when it started 19-5. 

Saddleback has another monster matchup on Wednesday when it hosts Cypress College.  The Bobcats and Chargers are scheduled to tip off at 7:00 PM inside the gymnasium.