A defensive struggle turned into a shootout Friday night as No. 4-seeded Ventura defeated No. 13 Fullerton 67-60 in the opening round of the CCCAA SoCal Regional Playoffs at the Athletic Event Center. Brooke Zamora led the Pirates with 15 points and seven rebounds while Aubri Smith netted 13 points with six assists and five steals.
The Pirates will host a regional semifinal on Wednesday march 4 at 7:00 pm against the winner of Saturday's match-up between No. 12 Long Beach and No. 5 Palomar.
The Pirates got things going inside early, as Sandra Ortiz hit two buckets in the paint in the first minute to give VC a 6-2 advantage. A runner on the left side by Carolyn Ruffino and a pair of free throws by madison O'Donnell gave VC a 10-6 advantage at the 15:44 mark of the first half.
Fullerton went without a field goal for over seven minutes early, but the Pirates also struggled to find the bottom of the net. VC shot 3-9 over that time, with a pair of free throws, and when Aubri Smith hit a lay-up at the 10:56 mark, the Pirates only led 16-6. Christina Gonzalez made two free throws to make the score 18-10 for the Pirates with 8:03 on the clock, and Zamora's charity tosses at the 4:24 mark made the score 20-12. A putback by Zamora, two more free shots from O'Donnell, and back-to-back buckets from Erin Ross gave Ventura a 28-15 lead at the half.
The Pirate back court was uncharacteristically quiet in the first half as the front line totaled 22 of VC's 28 points. Both teams combined to shoot 0-21 from 3-point range, and the Pirates made 37 percent of their field goal attempts while the Hornets shot just 22 percent in the period.
The Pirates seemingly had the game in hand for a majority of the second half. They stretched the lead to 15 points, 33-18, on a field goal by Makenna Murray off of an Aubri Smith pass at the 18:45 mark. The Hornets responded with a 5-0 run that was stopped by a Zamora bucket, but a Fullerton 3-pointer cut the lead to eight, 36-28, with 13:46 on the clock.
Ruffino had an answer with a deuce, followed by a defensive rebounds and an assist to Micaela Pericone-Kapp for three, extending the VC advantage back to 13 less than two minutes later. When Pericone-Kapp hit a free throw with 8:23 on the clock, it gave Ventura a 51-36 lead, and advancement seemed to be in hand.
But the Hornets had other plans. They shot 9-13 from behind the 3-point line in the second half, and began a comeback with a triple on the next possession. The Pirates were able to hold on to a double-digit lead until 3:21 remained when a Fullerton score cut the lead to nine. A Pirate turnover was followed by another trey and suddenly the score was 57-51 with 3:00 remaining.
Fullerton made two free throws and another 3-pointer to pull to within 57-56 at the 2:06 mark, but Aubri Smith found Ruffino on the left side on the next possession, and she nailed the triple to stop the bleeding. Murray found Zamora for a mid-range jumper on the next possession, and Ventura had turned back the Hornets' swarm. The Pirate made five of eight free throws down the stretch, and had solid play on the defensive glass to secure the 67-60 win.
After totaling just 43 points in the first 20 minutes, the teams combined for 84 points in the second. They also combined to hit 15 3-pointers in the second frame, as well.
Behind Zamora and Aubri Smith, the Pirates had balanced scoring, with Ruffino and Pericone-Kapp each hitting for eight points. Murray had seven while O'Donnell totaled six. Zamora, Murray and Ruffino all pulled in seven boards as VC outrebounded Fullerton 43-29.
The Pirates will now await the winner of the Long Beach-Palomar game on Saturday night. VC will host that winner on Wednesday March 4 at 7:00 pm at the Athletic Event Center.