WOMEN’S BASKETBALL: HORNETS DISMANTLE GAUCHOS

Fullerton welcomed Saddleback College to the Hornets Nest Wednesday night for an Orange Empire Conference game and handed the Gauchos their fifth consecutive loss at 79-57. 

The big win bumps the Hornets up to 3-4 in the OEC standings and gives them an overall record of 7-12. The loss now gives Saddleback an OEC record of 1-6 with an overall record of 4-16.

At the start of the game, Fullerton had a hard time slowing down the Gaucho offense as they took a 14-10 lead at 3:25. By the end first quarter's end, the Hornets were down 18-15.

The second quarter was good to Fullerton as they went on to take a healthy 27-21 lead at 6:09 (a 12-3 run). The Hornet defense stepped up only allowing 9 points in the quarter. By halftime, FC had boosted their lead to 40-27.

FC owned the second half of the game maintaining a double-digit lead throughout.

Despite losing the battle for rebounds (51-39), Fullerton outshot Saddleback 45.6% to 34.4%.  Another back-breaker for the Gauchos were the turnovers at 22 to FC's 11.

Melody Thomsen had a productive night scoring a game-high 22 points with 8 rebounds. Aliyah-Deen Ahmad dropped in 20 points, had 6 rebounds, and 4 steals. Lyneya Turner also played big with a double-double (15 points and 12 rebounds). Lillian Ballestero helped out with 9 points and Lani Maehara scored 8 points.

Up Next: The Hornets (7-12, 3-4) will play at home against Santa Ana College this Friday, January 26th at 5:00 pm. Come on out and support your Hornets!

*Photos by Phil Thurman