Chargers Pull off the Upset on the Road
Bryan scored 16 points Friday night. |
January 18th, 2008
box score
Mission Viejo, Calif. – Cypress faced their third ranked conference opponent Friday night matchup up against 11th ranked Saddleback at Saddleback. Cypress finally was able to pull off the underdog upset causing tremors in early conference standings with a thrilling 59-57 win. Sophomore forward Saw-Ann Bryan made her return to the starting lineup in full strength with a team high 16 rebounds and nine rebounds.
The Chargers came out shocking the host Gauchos taking an early 21-8 lead after the first ten minutes of play. Cypress kept the Gauchos on their heels extending their lead to 18 in the first half, 38-20. Saddleback came back from half recovering from their early wounds resolute to come back. The Gauchos started the half with a 10-0 run before freshman guard Sequana Norris stemmed the bleeding with an and-one layup. Norris started a 7-0 run for Cypress to regain a comfortable lead. Saddleback would not give in as both teams exchanged runs and the Gauchos slowly closed in.
With 1:33 remaining, Saddleback went on a 6-0 run over thirty seconds leaving Cypress with just a one point lead with 1:01 remaining. Saddleback was forced to foul which led to some nerve-racking moments including two missed free-throws and two turnovers by Cypress. Fortunately for the Chargers, Saddleback was unable to convert on two shot attempts. With three seconds remaining, Bryan made her first free-throw to increase the Charger lead to two. Her second shot missed but freshman guard Kejera Jolly rebounded and held on as the buzzer sounded for a big Cypress win.
Norris followed Bryan with 14 points on the night with three steals and seven rebounds. Sophomore forward Letisha Batiste led the way on the boards with 12 while scoring six points. Jolly and freshman guard Candyce Carlberg combined for 12 points and seven rebounds with five assists from Carlberg.
Cypress improves to 6-13 and 2-2 in conference. They will have until Wednesday to prepare for a tough Irvine Valley squad. IVC is 13-8 and 2-2 in conference coming off of a 76-70 win over Santa Ana. The two will battle it out next Wednesday at Cypress at 7:30 pm.