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@ Ventura 73, Santa Barbara 51
January 23, 2008
Box
Score
Up to two inches of rain, or more, fell on
Ventura Wednesday. The rain inside the
Athletic Event Center was of a different sort,
as the Pirates shot 65 percent from the floor
(17-26) in the second half in their 73-51 win
over Santa Barbara City College. The win
moves VC into the driver's seat in the WSC North
race with a 4-0 conference record as SBCC falls
to 4-1.
It
was a bit of a tug-o-war early as both teams
used the opening minutes to gage the opposition.
Santa Barbara (4-1, 12-11) took a 12-11 lead
with a basket at the 12:26 mark of the opening
period, but the Pirates came right back,
retaking the upper hand on a
Julie Heurung shot in the pivot just 10
seconds later. Ventura (4-0, 19-5) would
allow but a single free throw over the next 11
minutes as they went on a methodical 11-1 run.
When the Vaqueros finally did hit a bucket with
1:50 on the clock,
Donielle Griggs answered with a 3-pointer
giving the Pirates a 24-14 cushion with 1:27 on
the clock. Although SBCC managed another
basket and a couple of free throws,
Jenelle Conklin sandwiched a pair of buckets
around a
Michelle Santizo charity toss to end the
half. Conklin's final driving lay-up came
with 4.5 seconds remaining, giving VC a 29-18
halftime advantage.
Randi Hicks got the Pirates going in the
second half with a pair of turn-around jumpers
and Conklin followed with two scores of her own.
Free throws from Santizo and Conklin combined
with another Conklin bucket and a sweet 15-foot
jumper from
Eja Wong led VC to a 14-4 run in the opening
six minutes of the final period. When it
seemed the Vaqueros might creep back into the
contest with four consecutive points,
Indira Kaljo knocked them back down to the
canvas with the first of her two 3-pointers at
the 13:30 mark. The lead stayed around
20-points for the next eight minutes with
neither team finding a rhythm amidst the barage
of whistles interrupting play. When the
Pirates finally got their game back, Kaljo
delivered the knockout punch with her trifecta
from the right wing to make the score 67-43 with
4:58 remaining. The Pirates rode the wave
in from there to the 73-61 victory.
Heurung was unstoppable in the post with 16
points on an 8-for-10 shooting performance.
Kaljo posted a quiet 14 points and Conklin
tallied 13 for the victors.
Jessica Jameson and Wong each contributed
seven points to the balanced Pirate attack.
Kaljo led the glass attack with seven rebounds
while Heurung and Santizo each grabbed six.
Jameson had five boards for VC. Santizo
played a great floor game from her point guard
position, dishing out seven assists as Heurung
and Wong each gave out three dimes. As a
team, Ventura had 19 assists as compared to 15
turnovers and they out rebounded SBCC 39-29.
The
Pirates will travel to Oxnard on Saturday night
for a 5:30 pm tip-off against the Condors before
returning home next Wednesday, January 30, to
host Allan Hancock and finish the first round of
conference play. The games are followed at
7:30pm by the VC men. |
