Women's basketball team wins big again, pounds Saddleback

Courtesy of On My Game Photography
Courtesy of On My Game Photography

Irvine Valley's women's basketball team got off to a fast start and cruised to a 93-45 win over district rival Saddleback in an Orange Empire Conference game on Wednesday night at home.

It was the second straight blowout win for IVC in conference. In its last two games, Irvine Valley has out-scored Golden West and Saddleback, 182-86.

Friday's win kept Irvine Valley, which is ranked No. 6 in the state, unbeaten in conference play.

The Lasers won their 10th straight game and improved their record to 20-2 overall and 8-0 in conference.

Irvine Valley has a two-game lead in conference with four games left. The Lasers won't play on Friday as their game at Orange Coast was cancelled because of a lack of players for the Pirates.

IVC will be back in action next Tuesday at home at 6 p.m. vs. Santa Ana.

On Friday, Irvine Valley led, 34-11, after the first quarter and, 53-27, at the half.

The Lasers kept it going in the third quarter, out-scoring Saddleback, 25-8, to take a 88-35 advantage.

Irvine Valley led by as many as 48 points in the fourth quarter.

IVC shot an impressive 57.1 percent (40 of 70) from the field in the game.

Irvine Valley forced 34 Saddleback turnovers and out-scored the Gauchos, 37-9, on points off turnovers.

Seventy two of Irvine Valley's points came in the paint and the Lasers got 42 points from their bench players.

Freshman post player Helen Reynolds led the way for the Lasers with 25 points on 12 of 13 shooting from the field in just 18 minutes off the bench. She added eight rebounds.

Sophomore post Zoe Stachowski added 18 points, six rebounds and three blocks and sophomore guard Anai Washington had 15 points, five rebounds, four assists and three steals for IVC.

Freshman point guard Morgan Higgins contributed nine points, eight assists and an IVC career-best eight steals.

IVC had 25 steals as a team in the game.