The VC women's basketball team showed improvement from game one to game two, defeating San Bernardino Valley 65-46 Saturday afternoon in the Wild West Shootout at West Los Angeles College in Culver City. Alexa Coubal posted her first career double-double with 19 points and 13 rebounds, shooting a perfect 7-7 from the floor. Tiernan Phillips was 6-8 in accumulating 14 points for the Pirates and Sam McKenzie had 13 in the victory. Daphné LeBrun handed out five assists and grabbed four steals for the Pirates (2-0).
It was a slow start for Ventura as they made one of their first seven shots, a jumper by Phillips with 7:53 remaining in the opening period. Coubal made two free throws and Phillips made another before Coubal cashed in Leslie Salazar's dime for a 7-2 Pirate lead with 3:58 on the clock. Olivia Huynh and Coubal each connected for field goals in the final minutes of the period and VC led 14-6 after 10 minutes of play.
The Wolverines closed to within 16-11 two minutes into the second quarter when Elena Ferrara turned a pass by LeBrun into a 3-pointer from the right corner. SBVC kept pace with the Pirates through most of the stanza until Huynh made a lay-up and Phillips scored off a pass by McKenzie to stretch the advantage to 30-18 at the 3:17 mark. McKenzie netted back-to-back fast break buckets, the first off a steal and assist by Phillips and the second off a Salazar defensive board and pass forward, and Phillips scored just before the buzzer as VC closed the half with a 6-0 run for a 36-20 lead at intermission.
San Bernardino made a run to begin the second half, closing to within 40-29 with 6:44 remaining before Coubal converted an old-fashioned 3-point play midway through the period to slow the Wolverines' roll. McKenzie scored two more lay-ups late in the quarter and Ventura led 55-37 heading to the final stanza.
The Pirates asserted control to begin the fourth quarter, stretching the lead to 23 points on a steal and lay-up by Alexis Howery with 6:10 left to play. SBVC never got closer than 18 points the rest of the way as Ventura cruised to its second win of the season.
VC shot 52 percent from the floor as a team, 26-50, with 13 assists as a team. The Pirates also had 14 steals defensively, led by LeBrun and Salazar with four each. Salazar also contributed six points and three assists.
Ventura completes its three-day run in Culver City on Sunday Nov. 12 against College of the Desert at 4:00 pm.