Quarterfinals,
Tom
Gilcrest
Invitational
It
certainly was not a work of art. The
Pirates struggled with their energy at
times, but took care of the basketball,
and shot well in an 83-69 win over
Cerritos College in the quarterfinals of
the Tom
Gilcrest Invitational at the College
of the Sequoias in Visalia Friday
night. The win was coach Ned
Mircetic's 540th career victory, as
compared to Cerritos coach Karen
Welliver's 555 career wins, in a match up
of the two winningest active coaches in
California community college women's
basketball. VC will take on Fresno
City College at 8:00 pm on Saturday in a
tournament semifinal in a rematch of last
year's state quarterfinal in which Fresno
ended Ventura's season, 70-64.
The Pirates seemed to get off to an easy
start, as they built a 12-2 advantage in
the first six minutes of the
contest. Chanelle
Brennan's lay-up at the 6:27 mark made
the score 24-13, and a 3-pointer by Erika
Ward opened up a 13 point cushion,
29-16, with 4:39 left to play in the
period. Ventura (10-0) and Cerritos
(4-5) played the remainder of the period
even as the Pirates went into intermission
with a 39-28 lead.
In the second half, the Falcons caught
fire and the Pirates continued their
listless play, and what looked to be an
easy VC victory became a closely contested
game. Jessi
Selleh, who started and played despite
her trip to the hospital emergency room
the night before, hit a runner to give
Ventura a 57-44 lead with 11:34 remaining
in the game. Cerritos scored the
next eight points, including a pair of
treys, to close to within five.
Following a pair of Selleh charity tosses,
the Falcons hit another long range bomb,
making the score 59-55 at the 8:32
mark. The count was 61-57 with 6:46
left to play when Ward splashed her second
long-ranger of the game. A Julie
Heurung bucket was followed by a
Falcon duece, before Selleh broke the
Falcon's back with a straight-on 3-pointer
as the shot clock wound down with 3:17
remaining, giving VC a 69-60
advantage. VC scored its final 12
points from the foul line as Cerritos
attempted to climb back into the
game. Ventura was not going to
suffer its first loss of the season on
this night, however, despite their
lackluster performance, as the Pirates won
the game 83-69.
Brennan led five Pirates in double figures
with 15 points, while Selleh hit for 14
points. Michelle
Santizo nailed 13 points as Heurung
and Donielle
Griggs scored 12 and 10 points,
respectively. Ward added nine points
to the Pirate offense for good
measure. Santizo cleaned the glass
for nine rebounds to lead the way, and
Heurung and Brennan added seven and five
boards, respectively. Ward handed
out four assists, while Santizo and Griggs
each dished out three dimes. As a
team, the Pirates only had nine turnovers
for the game, while shooting 49 percent
from the floor (31-63), and 81 percent
from the free throw line (17-21).
Ventura advances to the tournament
semifinals against Fresno City College at
8:00 pm on Saturday night. It was
the Rams who ended the Pirates' season a
year ago with a 70-64 win in the state
quarterfinals. Mt. San Antonio and
Antelope Valley will contest the other
semifinal.
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