VENTURA COLLEGE   VC Athletic Web Sites VC Athletics Home Baseball M Basketball W Basketball Cheerleading Cross Country Football Golf W Soccer Softball Swimming & Diving M Tennis W Tennis Track & Field Volleyball M Water Polo W Water Polo

     It is said that 20/20 vision is perfect.  Saturday night the Pirates has 20/20 vision, in a way, as Chanelle Brennan and Michelle Santizo had 25 and 24 points, respectively, to lead VC to a hard-fought 98-82 conference road victory at Los Angels Pierce College in Woodland Hills.  Playing outside the friendly confines of the Athletic Event Center in nearly a month, Brennan added six rebounds and four steals to her efforts, while Santizo had six assists against zero turnovers as Ventura improves to 21-0 on the season and 2-0 in Western State Conference North Division play.

     Ventura (21-0, 2-0) never trailed in the game, and they were led off by Julie Heurung's 14-foot jumper in the paint from Santizo's assist on their opening possession of the game.  Santizo took over from there, scoring 10 of the Pirates' next 12 points as VC took a 14-5 advantage following back-to-back 3-pointers from the sophomore point guard. Brennan got a rebound and went coast-to-coast, converting a lay-up and drawing a foul for an old-fashioned 3-point play to put VC ahead 17-5 with 15:06 left in the first half, and, after hitting for a WSC-record 51 points on Wednesday, Erika Ward hit her first shot, a long trey, at the 12:14 mark to put the Pirates ahead 24-11.  L.A. Pierce (14-7, 0-1) came back strong, connecting on back-to-back triples en route to a 15-5 run over the next four-plus minutes to close the gap to 29-26.  A pair of free throws from Jessi Selleh and a bucket by Brennan halted the Brahmas' streak and gave control back to the Pirates.  The game remained close for the remainder of the period, however, and VC's scoring was closed out by a pair of charity tosses from Lacey Escamilla, who filled in well for Heurung and Kris King, both of whom were on the bench with foul trouble for the final seven minutes of the half, with 2:37 on the clock.  Pierce hit a bucket in the final minute of the stanza to close the gap to 43-42 at intermission in favor of the Pirates.

     Ventura re-established control as the final period started, scoring the first seven points of the half.  Heurung, Santizo, Selleh, and Ward all hit for points as the Pirates took a 50-42 lead with 18:01 left in the contest.  Santizo hit her third 3-pointer of the game at the 14:45 mark to put VC ahead 62-49.  the Brahmas answered with their own long-ranger before Ward hit Selleh on a sweet back-door cut on the right side to make the count 64-52.  The lead was eight, 65-57 with 10:55 remaining when Ventura went on 14-0 run over the next 2:27.  Donielle Griggs hit a bucket, followed by a Selleh 3-pointer from the left wing, followed by a 3-point play from Griggs on a drive down the right side and a charity toss.  Brennan connected on a pair of free tosses and a bucket to close the run, leaving the Pirates ahead 79-57 with 2:27 remaining in the game.  Pierce kept up the fight despite the deficit, closing to within 90-79 with 1:45 remaining before King and Santizo slammed the door shut with seven of the next eight points in the game.  Irma Rivera hit a free throw for the second consecutive game to close out the Pirates' scoring in the 98-82 win.

     Besides Brennan and Santizo, Ward and Selleh also reached double-figures for VC with 15 ad 11 points, respectively.  Griggs and Heurung each tallied seven points.  Heurung led the glass attack with 10 rebounds while Brennan collected six, and Ward and Santizo each grabbed four boards.  Ward led the way with eight assists in addition to Santizo's six dimes, and Brennan and Ward each collected four steals.

     Ventura gets a bye on Wednesday, and returns to action at home on Saturday January 17 against intra-county rival Moorpark College.  The day's festivities will begin at 3:30 pm with the annual barbeque fundraising dinner in the Ventura College Cafeteria.  The VC men will host the Raiders at 5:00 pm, and the Pirates women will honor their favorite teachers immediately following the men's game.  The Pirate-Raider women's match up will then tip approximately 20 minutes following the favorite teacher ceremony.  Both games will be broadcast on www.HomeFieldSports.com.