Adjustments at Halftime Do the Job for Saddleback

Saddleback outscored visiting San Diego Mesa, 15-4, in the final seven minutes of the first half and completely dominated the second to advance to the state women’s basketball quarterfinals with a 78-44 victory Saturday night.

“We made a couple of crucial adjustments at halftime,” Saddleback Coach Jack Single said. “We picked up their guards a little higher and pressured the weak side.”

The adjustments worked, as the Gauchos outscored San Diego Mesa, 43-21, in the second half.

The Saddleback defense forced 35 turnovers and maintained its season average of recording more rebounds than points allowed, pulling down 48.

Saddleback (29-0), seeded second in the Southern California regional, is scheduled to open in the quarterfinals against a Northern California opponent to be announced Thursday at San Jose City College.

San Diego Mesa (23-7) opened with a 10-6 lead before Nekada Allen came in and sparked a 10-0 run with three field goals. Allen, whose play is limited because of asthma, extended herself in the first half, going eight minutes before coming out of the game.

“She is supposed to signal me when she needs to take a break,” Single said. “I guess the enthusiasm of the game got the better of her.” Play had to be stopped until Allen could catch her breath.

She was able to pace herself better in the second half and finished as the leading scorer with 16 points. She also had 10 rebounds in 14 minutes of action. Six Saddleback players finished in double figures, with Shanna Renken scoring 15, Cha-Ron Walker 11 and Maureen Skehan, LaShieka Henderson and Nichole Zuniga each with 10.

Ana Diamond, who had 14 points, and Serena Dioe with 12 paced the Olympians, who had a 14-game winning streak.