Cats get back on track

The Saddleback women's basketball team shook off a disappointing loss earlier in the week with an 85-62 victory over Riverside City College on Friday night in Riverside. The Bobcats lead the Orange Empire Conference by a half game with three games remaining on the schedule.

Saddleback wasted no time in getting after a Riverside City team still looking for their first win in conference play.  The Bobcats took a 21-8 lead after the opening quarter and never looked back.

The game was tight for the first few minutes before the Saddleback defense kicked in.  The Bobcats held the Tigers scoreless for 5:25 while going on a 12-0 run to grab control.  Kassidy Beach had seven points and six rebounds in the quarter as RCC had no answers inside.

Saddleback was never threatened the rest of the way, using a balanced attack while the defense did its thing.  The Bobcats forced Riverside into 18 turnovers while blocking seven shots for the game. 

Nina Saiki led a balanced attack as Saddleback had five players in double-figures at the end of the night.  Saiki finished with a game-high 20 points and 10 assists.  She was 9-of-10 from the free throw line as Saddleback went to the charity stripe 35 times in the game.

Joining Saiki in double figures was Beach (17), Kalena Akinaka (15), Mariana Mina (13) and Makayla Rutledge (11).  Akinaka was a force off the bench, scoring 15 points with nine rebounds and four blocked shots in 25 minutes on the court.

Saddleback is now 19-6 overall and 7-2 in Orange Empire Conference (OEC) play.  The Bobcats lead a tight race for the OEC title with Irvine Valley College, Orange Coast College and Cypress College.  Saddleback has a half-game lead over Irvine Valley while leading Orange Coast by one game and Cypress by 1.5 games in the standings.

Saddleback will host Santa Ana College on Tuesday night at 7:00 PM.