WOMEN'S BASKETBALL: The Pirates' women's basketball team put a giant exclamation point on the end of the 2013-14 regular season with a 97-58 win at Moorpark on Saturday night. VC (27-3, 12-0) was never threatened in the game as they splashed 15 of 26 from 3-point land. Cynthia Hernandez led the barrage with 29 points, including 7-12 from behind the arc and Adrianna Vega hit for 20 points on a 6-7 night from the 3. Lisa Maria Sanchez netted 19 points with 11 assists, becoming VC's all-time career assist leader and Brooke Dixon had another double-double performance with 14 points and 11 rebounds. Adrianne Sloboh picked up 17 boards to go along with eight points.
After a couple of tentative possessions by both teams, the Pirates warmed up quickly. Hernandez hit a runner in the paint to get things going at the 18:23 mark, and back-to-back 3-pointers from Sanchez and Hernandez gave the Pirates an 8-2 lead a minute later. Vega hit another pair of long-range bombs, and Sanchez turned a Dixon steal into two more points and VC held a 16-7 lead with 14:32 on the clock. The run extended to 22-7 two minutes later, and even a 7-0 run by the Raiders could not hold back the Pirate Express. Ventura responded with a 16-2 run, essentially putting the game on ice early, taking a 48-20 lead into halftime.
The Pirates slowly expanded their lead in the first 10 minutes of the second half. The lead reached 30, 55-25, on a free throw by Lisa Marie Sanchez with 16:16 on the clock and Sloboh's assist to Sanchez for a triple amde it 70-30 at the 11:22 mark. Hernandez grabbed an offensive rebound and hit Vega for another trey to give the Pirates their largest lead of the evening, 86-41 with 7:08 remaining. Ventura rolled to the 97-58 win.
Ventura closes the regular season with a state-best 27-3 record, and close out the program's 19th perfect Western State Conference schedule, the 18th under head coach Ned Mircetic in 24 seasons. VC now awaits the playoff seedings that will be announced on Monday Feb. 24. The Pirates are looking for a likely No. 1 seed and a home game on Saturday March 1 at 7:00 pm at the Athletic Event Center. Fans who cannot make the game can hear it live online on the VC Women's Sports Network.