The VC women's basketball team rebounded from a poor effort on Friday to rout Santa Rosa Junior College 76-43 Saturday afternoon in an elimination game at the Gilcrest Invitational at College of the Sequoias in Visalia. Micaela Pericone-Kapp netted a career-high 21 points in the victory for Ventura (6-3).
Ventura opened the game on a 12-0 run and never looked back. Pericone-Kapp hit a three on the opening possession followed by a pair of buckets by Aubri Smith. Pericone-Kapp then connected with a 4-point play from an assist by Sandra Ortiz, and hit another charity toss to complete the run with 14:23 left in the first half.
The Bear Cubs finally got on the board with a free throw at the 12:43 mark, and made their first field goal on the next possession after misfiring on the first nine attempts.
The Pirate lead stretched to 14 points, 18-4, on Madison O'Donnell's bucket with 7:54 on the clock, and Makenna Murray found her range with a trey and a deuce to make it 23-11 at the 5:34 mark. Shiloh Smith hit a 3-pointer in the closing moments of the half to send VC into intermission ahead 38-22.
Santa Rosa opened the second half with a pair of 3-pointers, but the Pirates countered with field goals from Murray, Pericone-Kapp and Brooke Zamora. A triple from Murray and two successful jumpers from Aubri Smith made it 52-28 with 14:07 left in the contest. Down the stretch, Carolyn Ruffino converted three treys, two from assists by Carly Maciel, as VC extended its lead to as many as 35 points. The Pirates cruised in with the 76-43 win.
Murray netted 16 points with four assists and Aubri Smith had 11 points. Ruffino scored nine points on three 3-pointers.
Zamora pulled in a team-high eight rebounds while Pericone-Kapp, O'Donnell, Ortiz and Aubri Smith all pulled in four boards each.
One day after turning the ball over 25 times, VC committed just five turnovers against Santa Rosa.
The Pirates will play San Joaquin Delta College at 12:00 pm on Sunday Dec. 7 in the tournament finale.