WOMEN'S BASKETBALL: The Pirates' women's basketball team was successful in their attempt to leave the Tom Gilcrest Tournament with three wins Sunday afternoon. VC defeated NorCal No. 1 San Joaquin Delta 69-65 to claim third place, leaving the state's premier non-conference tournament with at least three wins for the 18th time in 19 years. All-tournament selection Lisa Marie Sanchez led the effort with 21 points, four assists and three steals and Brooke Dixon netted 17 points. Cynthia Hernandez tallied 14points with three assists and all-tournament selection Adrianne Sloboh grabbed a team-high 13 rebounds.
VC's response to Saturday's loss was less than ideal in the game's opening minutes. The Pirates managed only a Sanchez field goal in the first seven minutes as the Mustangs built an 11-2 lead with 13:45 left in the first half. A 3-point play by Micaela Pericone-Kapp broke a six minute scoreless skid for VC and Adrainna Vega answered a Delta bucket with a 3-pointer at the 12:24 mark. The Mustangs hit another trey and added two free throws and held an 18-8 lead midway through the period.
Hernandez hit back-to-back long range bombs to begin the Ventura comeback and Sanchez hit a pair of free throws and a runner to make the score 20-18 with 6:34 remaining. Hernandez assisted a Dixon basket at the 5:00 mark to tie the score and another two Sanchez charity tosses gave VC the lead with 4:26 left in the half. Dixon had four free throws and a bucket down the stretch and Hernandez nailed a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give Ventura a 32-26 lead at the break.
The teams began the second half trading buckets before am inside score by Dixon followed by two Hernandez field goals and a basket by Sanchez put the Pirates ahead 51-38 with 12:56 left in the game. Delta scored a pair of free throws, then sanchez converted a steal and a bucket and Sandra Ortiz converted a lay-up against the Delta press to give VC its biggest lead of the afternoon, 55-40 at the 10:11 mark.
Sanchez scored to make the score 60-55 with 7:05 remaining before Delta began a comeback, going on an 11-2 run over the next five minutes of play. Dixon broke the skid , scoring with 1:57 on the clock, before the Mustangs closed to within 64-61 at the 59 second mark. Vega hit two free throws with 55 seconds left to give Ventura a 65-61 advantage, and Sanchez, Sloboh and Pericone-Kapp all hit free shots to put the game away in the final seconds. VC held on for the 69-65 victory.
The Pirates claimed third place in the tournament, and will next travel to play in the Monarch-Russell Classic at Los Angeles Valley College Dec. 13-15. VC will take on College of the Desert on Friday Dec. 13 at 5:00 pm in the opening round.