Rhiana Dougan scored 24 points, including the first 13 of the game for Ventura as the Pirates cruised past Oxnard College 76-41 Wednesday at the Condor Center. The Pirate sophomore hit six 3-pointers in the game and Sienna Brown kicked in 10 points and seven rebounds. Making her first career start, Celeste Salazar had six points with six assists and a pair of steals for the Pirates (19-5, 4-0).
Play was sloppy throughout the first half for both teams, as signified by the Pirates' turning the ball over on each of their first three possessions. Dougan finally got VC on the board as she netted the Pirates' first 13 points of the game, pushing Ventura to a 10-4 advantage with 4:10 left in the first quarter, and a 13-6 lead at the 2:39 mark. Avery Brunk and Kyleesha Green each hit free throws, and Brown connected on an elbow jumper to make it 17-9 at the end of the first period.
Ventura tried to pull away in the second quarter with Christina Gonzalez and Mary Shirley both scoring inside to stretch the VC advantage to 13 points, 24-11, with 5:38 remaining in the half. But the Pirates could not hold on as Oxnard closed to within 32-24 at halftime.
Dougan caught fire again to begin the third period, netting the Pirates' first 11 points and expanding the Ventura lead to 43-31 at the 6:35 mark. Brown and Davina Del Castillo scored VC's next 12 points and the Pirates began to pull away. Salazar nailed a three-ball with 2:13 left in the quarter to push the advantage to 58-37, which was the score at the quarter break.
The Pirates continued their strong fourth quarter play, outscoring the Condors 18-4 to set the final margin at 76-41.
Del Castillo netted eight points with a game-high 12 rebounds and four steals, and Green handed out six assists. Gonzalez totaled eight points while Simone Lewis contributed six.
Ventura will host Santa Barbara on Saturday Jan. 28. It is also VC's 10th Annual Ribbons of Life Breast Cancer Game with activities beginning at 5:00 pm in the lobby of the Athletic Event Center. The game is scheduled to begin at 7:00 pm and can be seen live on the VC Sports Network.