Gauchos Able to Shipwreck Pirates

The Saddleback women's basketball team won its second straight game on Friday with a 77-59 win at Orange Coast College.  Danielle Munson scored 25 points as the Gauchos pulled away in the second half.

Munson has been burning up the nets as of late, averaging 18 points-per-game over the past three games.  She picked a great night to have a season-high on Friday when she shot 9-of-16 from the field, also collecting 10 rebounds.  Munson was joined by two others in double-digits as Emily Cox had her second straight big night with 21 points while leading scorer Deja Brooks scored 16.   

Saddleback had a narrow 34-30 lead at the intermission and saw the lead drop to three over the first four minutes of the second half, trading baskets with the Pirates.  The Gauchos slowly built the lead to 10 with five minutes remaining (69-59) when things went south for Orange Coast.  The Pirates failed to score a point over the final 4:47 of the game, going 0-for-6 from the field, committing two turnovers and missing three straight free throws as Saddleback climbed above .500 for the season (12-11) and evening its record in Orange Empire Conference play (3-3).

The win puts Saddleback a half-game back of third place Fullerton College in conference play and 1.5 games back of second place Cypress College.  The Gauchos now have a bye next Wednesday before traveling to Cypress next Friday.  Tip time is set for 7:00 PM.