Growing pains hit the Pirates' women's basketball team hard in their season-opening loss to Fullerton Saturday in the Vaquero Shootout at Glendale College. The Pirates let a 33-30 halftime advantage slip away in the final period in the 72-58 decision against the Hornets. Sophomore Micaela Pericone-Kapp led VC with 12 points, including three 3-pointers.
Pericone-Kapp got the Pirates off on the right foot, hitting a trey from an assist by Sandra Ortiz on the first possession of the contest. Fullerton answered with a triple of their own and the rest of the half was a back-and-forth affair. The Pirates trailed 11-6 before a dueces by Ortiz and Brooke Zamora were followed by a 3-pointer by Carolyn Ruffino to put VC ahead 13-11 with 12:15 on the clock.
Back-to-back 3's by Zamora and Carly Maciel, and a pair of free throw by Ruffino had Ventrua ahead 27-22 with 5:38 remaining in the first half. The Hornets came right back with back-to-back long-range bombs of their own to close the gap. Pericone-Kapp hit her third 3-pointer of the half at the 2:12 mark to give VC a 33-28 advantage, but that would be their last points for over seven minutes around halftime. The Pirates led 33-30 at the break.
Fullerton upped the ante with their aggressive zone defense to begin the second half, and the Pirates, who lost all five starters from last-year's state championship squad, had trouble adjusting. VC turned the ball over seven times in five minutes as the Hornets went on a 10-0 run to start the half and take a 40-33 lead. By the time Makenna Murray converted a lay-up to end the scoreless skid with 14:58 remaining in the contest, the damage had been done.
VC, who had freshmen play 135 of the 200 possible minutes, hit a steep learning curve in the second half, and never really threatened the Hornets the rest of the way. Fullerton's lead went as high as 15 points, 58-43, with 7:30 on the clock, before settling in for the 72-58 final.
VC managed just 26 percent shooting in the final 20 minutes (7-27) while turning the ball over 13 times in the period, 23 times in the game. To Fullerton's credit, they converted on 53 percent of their field goal attempts (29-56) while shooting 9-10 at the free throw line.
While Pericone-Kapp was the lone Pirate in double-figures, Zamora, a freshman, and Maciel, a redshirt sophomore, each turned in nine points. Murray, also a freshman, netted seven in her VC debut. Freshman forward Erin Ross led VC's charge on the glass with seven rebounds.
The Pirates will begin to regroup on Saturday Nov. 22 against College of the Desert in the consolation semifinals in Glendale. Their home opener is Friday Nov. 27 at 6:00 pm against Taft College.