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We Play Hard!
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Ventura 64, Orange
Coast 40
@ Ventura Crossover
December
29, 2007
Box
Score
Under
banners signifying past glory with the eye of tradition
firmly upon them, the Ventura College Pirates soundly
defeated Southern California's co-#1-ranked Orange Coast
64-40 Saturday night at the Athletic Event Center. The
Pirates used perhaps the best defensive effort since the
2002 state championship campaign to stifle a talented OCC
team into 30 turnovers and 27 percent shooting for the game
in the victory.
The contest was tied at four early on Eja
Wong's 10-foot wing jumper with 17:02
on the clock in the first half. Jessica
Jameson hit a shot in the paint with just
under 13 minutes remaining to give Ventura
(15-4) the lead for good, 8-7. A Jenelle
Conklin 13-foot bucket from the paint at the
7:55 mark closed a 12-2 VC run which put them up
18-9. Donielle
Griggs hit off of a left-handed drive over
the top with 3:00 remaining to make the VC
Pirates' lead double-figures, 22-11, and her
3-pointer two minutes later gave VC a 14 point
advantage, 28-14. An OCC long-range rocket
closed the gap, and following a VC turnover, the
OCC Pirates were poised to bring their deficit
under 10 as the half closed. The Ventura
defense had other plans, however, and forced a
shot clock violation with three seconds
remaining on the game clock to make the halftime
score 28-17 in favor of Ventura.
Orange Coast (16-2) is too talented of a team to
just lie down, so perhaps the nerves resonating
from that thought were in VC's heads to begin
the second half. Ventura committed six
turnovers and hit on but one of six field goal
attempts in the first four minutes of the final
period, but Coast's play was almost as tight
with three turnovers and a 1-6 performance from
the floor. Randi
Hicks scored on three consecutive
possessions between the 16- and 15-minute marks
to take a seven point VC advantage to a 36-23
margin. Michelle
Santizo connected on a lay-up on the
following possession and Indira
Kaljo connected with her first field goal of
the evening, a 3-pointer, to punctuate the 11-0
Ventura run, giving VC a 41-23 lead with
13:56 on the clock. Coast
pulled back to within 13 points, 47-34, with
10:22 remaining, but would not score for the
next six minutes. A 17-4 run for Ventura
closed the game's final 10 minutes, with Kaljo's
long-range bomb essentially chilling any hopes
of a Coast comeback with 2:46 remaining and VC
up 62-40.
Conklin and Kaljo led the VC Pirate offense with
13 points each while Santizo added 11 and Hicks
contributed eight. Wong played her best
game of the season from her point guard
position, dishing out eight assists and Santizo
was the "cookie monster" once again
pulling in five steals. Santizo also led
the VC Windex crew with five rebounds while
Conklin, Hicks, Kaljo ,and Wong each pulled down
four boards.
After a couple of days off for the new year, VC
returns to practice in preparation for their
third contest against a Northern California
top-ranked opponent. VC defeated then #1
San Joaquin Delta on Dec. 1, 72-55, at the
Sequoias Tournament and downed top-ranked Fresno
90-87 last weekend at the Canyons
Crossover. The Pirates will host new #1
Foothill College on Saturday Jan. 5 as part of
the
Annual
Barbeque Fundraiser. The barbeque will
be held in the VC Cafeteria from 4:00 - 6:30 pm
while tip-off for the game will be at 7:00 pm at
the Athletic Event Center. The Pirates
will also honor their favorite teachers at
halftime of the game. |
