The Pirates' women's basketball team opened a big lead in the first quarter and never looked back in their 77-44 victory over visiting Cuesta Wednesday at the Athletic Event Center in the Western State Conference opener for both teams. Carolyn Ruffino hit five 3-pointers for a team-high 15 points while Aubri Smith had 14 points, seven assists and two steals in the game.
Ventura scored on their first possession when Ruffino hit Amani White on the inside for two. Aubri Smith assisted a Ruffino three a minute later, and Makenna Murray hit from long range to make it 8-0 with 7:30 left in the opening period. Felicia Magana hit a pair of free throws and Brooke Zamora nailed a trey, followed by a deuce from Aubri Smith as VC opened up a 15-0 lead barely six minutes into the game.Alex Kalmbach assisted an Aubri Smith three, and Ruffino hit her second triple of the game as VC led 21-4 at the end of the first quarter.
The Pirate pace slowed a bit in the second period as Cuesta was able to cut the deficit to 13 points, 30-17 at the 4:16 mark. Ventura closed strong, however, racing to a 9-1 run over the final three minutes, capped off by Zamora's buzzer-beating trey making the score 40-19 at halftime.
Ventura came out cold in the third quarter, shooting 2-8 in the early going, missing a pair of free throws with a pair of turnovers. The Cougars pulled to within 44-29 with 5:10 remaining in the period. White hit two charity tosses to stop the skid, followed by another Ruffino three on the next possession. That started an 18-4 Ventura run to close the quarter that included an old fashioned 3-point play by Aubri Smith, buckets by White and Marissa Hurtado, another triple from Ruffino, and a 3-pointer by Magana. VC led at the end of three quarters, 62-33.
the big lead allowed Ventura to rest the starters down the stretch. Many Pirates contributed valuable minutes in the fourth quarter as they pulled away for the 77-44 victory.
Ventura had a balanced attack with 12 different players recording points. Zamora finished with nine while White tallied eight. Aubri Smith, Murray and Kalmbach led the VC rebounding efforts with five boards each while Ruffino, White and Zamora each pulled in four. Murray handed out three assists while Ruffino, Kalmbach and Zamora each had a pair of dimes.
The Pirates will travel to Moorpark on Saturday Jan. 9 for their next outing. Tip-off at Raider Pavilion is scheduled for a matinee special at 3:00 pm.