The Pirates' women's basketball team fell behind Cuesta early and could never recover in their 57-42 loss to the Cougars Saturday at the Athletic Event Center. Alexa Coubal was 9-10 at the free throw line, scoring 13 points with 14 rebounds and Danielle Salazar came off the bench to score 12 points. Sam McKenzie added 10 points, three assists and four steals in the game.
The Pirates came in cold, falling behind 5-0 and 10-1 before Alexa Coubal made four straight free throws to get Ventura going. McKenzie then scored a lay-up, and Coubal answered a Cuesta score as VC trailed 13-9 at the end of the first quarter.
Cuesta then went on an 8-0 run to begin the second before McKenzie's old-fashioned 3-point play ended the skid. Charnelle Nichols followed with a three to pull VC to within 21-15with 5:45 remaining in the stanza. Nichols and Salazar answered Cougar scores with a two and a three, respectively, and Aiyana Gonzalez and McKenzie scored in the final minute for a 33-25 halftime deficit for the Pirates.
Salazar's 3-point play early in the third period maintained the deficit, and Coubal scored a field goal and hit a pair of free throws to pull Ventura to within four points, 36-32, at the 3:36 mark. The Cougars scored the next eight points, however, and led 45-32 heading to the final 10 minutes of play.
McKenzie scored a lay-up, and Salazar hit back-to-back three's to close the gap to 48-40 midway through the fourth quarter, but the Pirates could not get any closer. Cuesta pulled away for the 57-42 defeat of the Pirates.Nichols added seven rebounds and five points to the Pirates' efforts while Gonzalez had six boards.
Ventura next travels to Hancock on Wednesday Feb. 19.