SANTA ANA, Calif. – On the last day of the 2017 Santa Ana College Women's Basketball Tournament, the Dons routed Bakersfield College 77-59 to take home the third-place trophy and improve to 5-4 overall.
Santa Ana came out of the gates shooting lights out, going 5-11 from the field and 3-5 from beyond the arc in the first quarter to build a 14-10 lead. In the second quarter, the Dons stayed hot on the offensive end with 20 points to go into halftime winning 34-28.
Alexis Smith played a huge role in the hot start for the Dons as she went 4-5 from three for 12 points in the first half.
After the half, the rest of the Dons got into the rhythm and started to pile it on to pull away late in the game.
Don forward Cheryl Caldera tallied nine of her 11 points in the third quarter and then freshman guard Sally Morris went off in the fourth, going 3-3 from three for the finishing touches.
Santa Ana shot a blistering 66.7 percent (10-15) from three and 48.9 percent (23-47) from the field in the game. They had six players with nine or more points and racked up 18 assists on the night.
The leading scorer for the Dons was forward Alexis Casillas, who had 16 points and nine rebounds. She was closely followed by Smith with 15 points, and Sally Morris with 12 points.
Although she did not score as much as some other Dons, freshmen guard Cailey Vitug was awarded All-Tournament honors for her well-rounded play over the weekend. Vitug served as the primary ball handler for the Dons, dishing out an average of five assists per game to go along with an average of seven points per game in the tournament.
With the win, the Dons improve to 5-4 and look forward to yet another matchup with Bakersfield in a make up game on Tuesday, Dec. 12th at 6:00 p.m.
2017 SAC ALL-TOURNAMENT
MVP – Shea Glasgow-Williams, Merced College
Tajaheray McMahan, Merced College
Barbara Rangel, Moorpark College
Kelsea Illengo, Moorpark College
Cailey Vitug, Santa Ana College
Adrianna Brackins, San Bernardino Valley College
