Gauchos go cold against Cypress

The Saddleback women's team came out cold and never heated up in falling to Cypress, 69-43, on Wednesday night at the Saddleback Gymnasium.  The Gauchos played hard for 40 minutes, but couldn't find the bottom of the net.

Saddleback made a run early to take an 8-7 lead midway through the first half of play. The lead was short-lived, however, as Cypress closed the half on a 23-8 run in taking a 14-point lead into the intermission.    The Gauchos shot just 20% in the first 20 minutes, including 0-for-6 from three-point range.

Cypress came into the game ranked No. 9 in Southern California and No. 13 in the state and looked like a team ready to make a run at a conference title.  The Chargers finished the game shooting 50% from the field, led by Sloan Turner's 21 points. Turner also led Cypress with 14 rebounds as the Chargers out-rebounded the Gauchos 61-34 for the game.  Saddleback was led by Karla Roacha-Cota (pictured), who finished with 13 points for the night.

Saddleback fell to 10-10 overall and 1-2 in Orange Empire Conference play with the loss.  Cypress is now 14-7, 4-0.

Saddleback will play again on Friday at home against Fullerton.  Tip time is set for 5:30 pm.