With less than four minutes remaining in the third quarter, the VC women's basketball team trailed Cuesta 35-32 and were in need of a spark. Enter Talia Taufaasau. The freshman point guard scored the game's next 10 points to give the Pirates a 42-35 advantage and led Ventura (23-8, 8-1) with 25 points and nine assists in their 60-51 victory over Cuesta in San Luis Obispo Tuesday night. LaDaesha Merriweather, meanwhile seemingly rebounded every missed shot, pulling in 18 boards in the victory.
The Pirates jumped out early with a pair of Taufaasau free throws and a 3-pointer from Cece Quintino. Cuesta answered with a three, their first of four they would hit in the opening period. The Pirates led 12-8 on Victoria Maciel's three at the 2:52 mark before the Cougars ended the stanza with an 8-0 run to go ahead 16-12. Taufaasau book-ended the quarter with the final score to make it a 2-point margin.
VC retook the lead early in the second with a Merriweather offensive rebound and putback and another triple by Quintino. After a mid-range baseline jumper by Robin Fallandy, and another two free throws from Taufaasau, Ventura led 24-19 with 5:55 remaining in the half. The Pirate offense went cold at that point, going four minutes without a point while Cuesta tied the score at the 2:00 mark. Fallandy then broke the drought with an inside bucket, and Quintino scored in the final minute for a 28-26 halftime lead for Ventura.
The Cougars outscored the Pirates 9-5 in the first half of the third quarter to take a 35-32 edge, setting up Taufaasau takeover. She started the individual run with a 3-pointer to tie things up with 3:45 remaining, then nailed two free shots. That was followed by two more drives for scores and one of two charity shots for a 42-35 advantage. Taufaasau then answered a Cuesta score in the final minute as VC led 44-39 at the quarter break.
Madison Cvijanovich got into the act early in the final stanza, hitting a pair of 3-pointers to stretch the Pirate lead to 50-39 with 8:47 left on the clock. Cuesta attempted to mount a comeback, but Ventura was able to answer every challenge with buckets by Colleen Clow, Taufaasau and Merriweather. The Pirates held on for the 60-51 victory.
Maciel was strong on the boards with seven rebounds and Clow pulled in four boards. Cvijanovich totaled eight points, and Merriweather also turned in eight to aid her stellar rebounding performance.
The Pirates will end the regular season on Friday Feb. 22 against Moorpark College. Tip-off against the top-ranked Raiders is scheduled for 7:00 pm and followed the VC men's game which begins at 5:00 pm.