Ventura seeded No. 4, beat No. 5 Saddleback, 67-51, in the Southern California regional finals before a capacity crowd of 1,686 Saturday night at the VC Athletic Event Center.
You have a tough road ahead in route to the state tournament with an opponent like state power Ventura and legendary coach Ned Mercetic. It becomes even a tougher task when your all state point guard goes down minutes before the game with a knee injury suffered in warm-ups. So was the story for the Gauchos who played with a fierce urgency in the absence of their floor leader Cassie Klockgether.
The Gauchos lead most of the first half, and held a 20-16 lead with 6:50 left in the half, Ventura closed with a 13-4 run to take a five-point half-time lead.
Klockgehter absence was a tough break for the Gauchos and it would get even tougher in the second half when freshman point guard Justine Chacon was forced out of the game with a fractured hand with 10 minutes to play. Chacon's departure and foul trouble would doom the Gauchos and send Ventura to Stockton for the state tournament later this week.
Rekeshia Jones was at her best despite being doubled and tripled team, and the rest of the Gauchos played inspired basketball.
Jones ended the game leading the Gauchos with 12 points and 4 blocked shots.
Saddleback’s defense shut down the explosive Cougar offensive attack enroute to an 84-59 victory at home Saturday night. The win puts the fifth-seeded Gauchos (24-7) into the regional finals, traveling to play fourth-seeded Ventura on Saturday, March 8, in Ventura.
Canyons came into the contest averaging 83 points per game while Saddleback was only averaging 68 points per game. But Saddleback had limited opponents to just 59 points all season, hitting that mark again on Saturday against Canyons. Canyons had allowed opponents to score 73 points per game.
The Cougars had little answer as how to stop Saddleback’s 6’3 center Rekeshia Jones. Jones poured in 28 points, grabbed a game-high 18 rebounds, and added three blocked shots and three steals. The Cougars also didn’t shoot well from the free throw line, connecting on just 40 percent of their attempts (13 of 32).
Although Canyons hit the first basket of the game, Saddleback took the lead two minutes into the contest and never looked back. The Gauchos benefitted from 5’5” backup guard Marissa Douglass’ hot hand from the outside as she dropped in four of her five three-point attempts and ended with 14 points. Joy Mason had 13 points and six rebounds while first-team all-state guard Cassie Klockgether was limited to nine points but handed out six assists.
Andrea Bobic led the Cougars with 13 points and 11 rebounds and Charity Smith added 14 points. Kelly O’Linn was limited to just nine points and Britney Bradley didn’t score a field goal (0 for 7), settling for a pair of free throws (2 for 8).
Two Saddleback College sophomore women’s basketball players were selected to both the all-conference and all-state teams this week.
Guard Cassie Klockgether (Montgomery HS, San Diego) and center Rekeshia Jones (El Camino HS, Oceanside) were both named to the first-team all-Orange Empire Conference list after helping the Gauchos (23-7) to a runner-up finish in the conference standings.
Klockgether averaged 20.1 points, 5.9 rebounds, and 5.5 assists per game during the conference season while Jones averaged 18.1 points, 11.1 rebounds, and 4.0 blocked shots per game. It is the second year these two have earned all-conference recognition.
Klockgether went on to earn first-team all-state honors. As a freshman last season she earned second-team all-state recognition. Jones, who may have been mistakenly omitted from all-state recognition last season, was named to the third-team all-state list this year.
Jones established new school records for blocked shots (114) this season. She has 174 in her two-year career. She also established a new school record for shooting percentage as she has made 55.3 percent of her field goal attempts (347 of 628) in her Saddleback career. Klockgether set the single-game record for most free throws (16) this season.
Saddleback College’s standout center Rekeshia Jones has signed a national letter of intent to continue her education and basketball career at Texas A&M – Commerce.
Jones, a 2005 graduate of El Camino High School in Oceanside, was an all-Orange Empire Conference selection as a freshman for Saddleback in 2007 after she averaged 11.9 points. 8.8 rebounds, 2.1 blocked shots and 2.3 steals per game while helping Saddleback to a 21-9 overall record and a third place finish in the conference standings.
This season, Jones is averaging 16.4 points, 10.3 rebounds, 3.8 blocked shots, and 2.2 steals per game while helping Saddleback to a 22-6 overall record.
She has scored 829 points during her two year career at Saddleback (14.3 points per game) with one game remaining in the regular season before the Gauchos begin post-season play. She has grabbed 554 rebounds (9.6 per game) and blocked 171 shots (2.95 per game). She owns the college’s single season (111) and career (171) records for blocked shots, leading the state in that category this year. She has also set a school record by making 54.6 percent of her field goal attempts during her career at Saddleback.