Saddleback’s Kendrah Lopez maintains possession as teammate Desiree Quero waits for the ball in a game this season. (Photo: Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone).
Saddleback High’s girls basketball team is preparing for a tough challenge Tuesday on the road against San Diego Madison, the top seeded team in the Division V Southern California Regional playoffs.
Saddleback, which has an 18-12 record, has made tremendous strides this season reaching the CIF Division 5A semifinals. It’s the first time that the squad has reached the semifinals under head coach Al Martinez and assistant coaches Dan Lara and Ros Turner.
Now, the 16th-seeded Roadrunners, by virtue of reaching the semifinals in CIF, move on to the state tournament against San Diego Madison (27-3).
“We got a tough draw, we’re playing the number one team,” Lara said Monday. “We’re the 16th seed and Madison is the first seed so we’re going to have our hands full.”
Lara said the coaching staff has seen some highlight films of the San Diego team.
“Being number one means their whole team must be solid, they’re a good team,” he said.
“As long as we keep our composure and do the fundamentals, we give ourselves a chance. Playing hard has been our motto all season long and nothing changes now.”
Saddleback had a strong CIF playoff run. The Roadrunners defeated Connelly 58-21, Pacifica Christian 48-15, California School for the Deaf 46-24 and Miliken of Los Angeles 53-37 before losing to Bishop-Conaty-Lorento 57-47 in the semifinals.
“It’s been one season that we’re always going to remember,” Lara said. “This is the first time we’ve made it to the CIF playoffs in two years and into the semifinals. I don’t think girls basketball has even made it that far. We had a chance to play in the semis to possibly play in the championship game.
“It didn’t go our way but I’m glad the girls went through that experience to possibly come back next year stronger and maybe they have some more fire coming into this game in the state playoffs.”
Saddleback led in the first half of the semifinal. Bishop took an eight point lead in the third quarter before the Roadrunners cut the lead to one point going into the final stanza. But Bishop finished strong to seal the victory.
“We played OK,” Lara said. “I think we kind of beat ourselves by not doing the fundamentals of boxing out and setting good screens. We made the game a little more difficult than it should have been. At the end, the other team out-hustled us, so that’s always something that you want to have on your team. But we definitely got to want it more.”
Regardless of the outcome of Tuesday’s game, the future looks promising for Saddleback, which has four freshmen.
“Out of the 14 players on the roster, nine of them are underclassmen,” Lara said. “Saddleback basketball definitely has a bright future ahead of us.”
Among the top players have been three returning players who have led the way: juniors Daisy Flores, Desiree Quero and Maria Martinez.
“They’ve been on varsity since their freshman year,” Lara said. “They’ve been kind of holding it together for us.
Among the talented freshmen on the team are Juliana Torrosa, Karime Lopez and Kendrah Lopez (the Lopez sisters are twins).
Lara, who was the coach of the Saddleback varsity boys team before joining the girls program, has been at Saddleback for eight years while Martinez has been coaching the girls for about 10 years.
“Making it to the state playoffs is something to be proud of,” Lara said. “I don’t think we’ve ever been in this position before so it’s a good experience for all of us and we’re happy to be here and we’re trying to make the best out of it.”
The Saddleback fans, who have turned out in big numbers to cheer the team on, are undoubtedly excited about the state playoff too.
“Our fan base and all the parents definitely have been going and a lot of the friends from the coaching staff (along with) the players and family of the coaches and we’re very appreciative of the fans and we hope to see them at the state playoffs,” Lara said.
The Saddleback coaches said they were also appreciative of the team’s sponsor Adidas which has been a big supporter of the team. Adidas representatives were on hand at a league game to hand out free gear to fans. (Please click here to see that story)
-Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone; timburt@ocsportszone.com
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