California
State
Semifinals
If anyone would have said that the
Pirates would shoot 48 percent from the
floor, make 9-23 3-pointers, and score 93
points against Pasadena in the State
Semifinals Saturday night, one would think
VC would advance to Sunday's state
championship game. Unfortunately, as
well as the Pirates played, Pasadena played
that much better, shooting nearly 51
percent, hitting 14-21 3-pointers, and
scoring 106 points in Ventura's
heartbreaking first, and last, loss of the
season. Playing hard means giving your
best effort without making excuses, and VC
certainly played hard, despite the result
that ended another historic season for the
Pirates.
Both teams started the game on a roll.
Donielle
Griggs converted an Erika
Ward pass into a 3-pointer fro the right
wing on the Pirates' first possession to
take the early lead, but the Lancers quickly
answered with a trey of their own.
Ward buried three consecutive
trifectas, the final one at the 16:54 mark
of the opening period giving Ventura (34-1)
a 12-7 lead. Ward hit Kris
King a minute later for a lay-up making
the score 15-9, and Ward's fourth 3-pointer
made the score 18-12 at the 15:11 mark.
Pasadena (32-4) came back and tied the score
at 20 with 13:17 on the clock, and rode the
momentum to a 34-27 advantage six minutes
later.
Chanelle
Brennan connected for consecutive
buckets, followed by a pair of free throws
by Julie
Heurung, and a deuce by Ward from King's
assist to knot the score at 35 with 4:36
remaining in the period.
The Lancers marched back to a 42-36
advantage at the 3:15 point before Jessi
Selleh assisted a Griggs bucket, and Michhelle
Santizo dropped a dime to Ward on
consecutive possessions. Following a
basket by PCC, Heurung connected on a lay-up
with 2:24 remaining, making the count 44-42
in favor of the Lancers. A pair of
free throws by Pasadena preceded Ward's
sixth 3-pointer of the half and a putback by
King with four seconds left to give Ventura
a 47-46 lead in a wild first half in which
the teams combines for 16 3-pointers, nine
by Pasadena and seven by VC.
Ward had a steal on the first possession of
the second half by Pasadena that led to a
Griggs lay-up giving VC a 49-46 lead out of
the blocks in the final stanza. But
PCC hit their tenth trey of the contest on
the next possession and VC would never lead
again. The Lancers connected for two
at the 19:01 mark when Santizo assisted on a
Griggs back door cut to knot the score at
51. But the Pirate offense, which had
been so good all season long began to
sputter, taking over two minutes to put more
points on the board. Meanwhile
Pasadena connected on a pair of lay-ups to
go ahead by four, 55-51. Santizo hit
two charity tosses to close the gap to two
at the 16:34 mark, but PCC then connected on
another pair of baskets to bump the lead to
six.
Amanda
Padilla had an assist to Brennan at the
14:10 mark as the Pirates pulled the margin
to four points, 61-57, but the game would
soon get out of hand for VC. The
Pirates went on a five minute scoreless
drought during which Pasadena scored 11
consecutive points, including two more
long-range bombs. Brennan and Ward
broke the scoreless string with a pair of
lay-ups making the score 72-61 with 8:53
left, but the Lancers sandwiched two more
3-pointers around a Santizo bucket to move
the lead back to 15 points, 78-63, a minute
later. Pasadena extended their
advantage to as many as 17 points, 82-65,
with 4:39 left in the contest, and the
Pirates were forced to begin to foul to try
to get back into the game with three minutes
remaining. Pasadena missed four on
their next eight foul shots and the Pirates
closed the gap to 11 points, 90-79, on
Selleh's lay-up with 2:21 on the
clock. But it was not to be. PCC
connected on 10 of their next 11 charity
attempts to hold off any thoughts of a
Pirate comeback. Despite a valiant
effort to the end, Ventura fell to Pasadena
106-93.
Ward led the Pirate offense for the second
straight night, hitting for 31 points
including a 7-11 shooting performance from
behind the 3-point stripe. Brennan had
24 points for VC while Santizo closed her
Pirate career with 10 points. Griggs
and Heurung had nine and eight points,
respectively. Brennan and Ward each
had six rebounds for the Pirates and Ward
and Santizo each dished out six
assists. Santizo had three steals to
lead the VC defense.
The season ends a day early for Ventura, and
Pasadena moves on to play for the state
championship Sunday against San Joaquin
Delta College. But for Ventura, the
next few weeks will allow them to take time
and appreciate the historic successes that occurred
during the year. VC says goodbye to
five sophomores who have had great careers
in the orange and black, but as it always at
this time of year, Jessi
Selleh, Donielle
Griggs, Michelle
Santizo, Julie
Heurung, and Christine
McPherson all will be looking forward to
continuing their academic careers beyond the
walls of Ventura College. They all
have bright futures ahead of them, in
whatever path they choose, and they will
always be a Pirate for Life. Meanwhile
freshmen Erika
Ward, Chanelle
Brennan, Amanda
Padilla, Kris
King, Lacey
Escamilla, Brenda
Van Someren, Irma
Rivera, and redshirts Jordan
Clegg and Jessica
Kidder all have their experiences of the
2008-09 season to build on as VC looks
forward to next year.
And come August there will be a new class of
freshmen, the class of 2011, and they will
begin their journey with the Pirates, during
what many alumnae later remember as the some
of the best experiences of their lives.
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