Ventura Gets Past Hancock

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL:  After a week off, the Pirates' women's basketball team had to shake off some rust, and a pesky Allan Hancock team, in defeating the Bulldogs 69-54 Saturday in Santa Maria. Lisa Marie Sanchez led all scorers with 20 points to go along with eight assists and Adrianne Sloboh recorded a double-double of 14 points and 17 rebounds to go along with a pair of assists and four steals in the victory for VC (23-3, 8-0). Brooke Dixon had 14 points and eight boards while Cynthia Hernandez produced 11 points and five assists.

The Pirates, coming off a bye on Wednesday night, showed some rust early, misfiring on five of their first seven shot attempts. They also had six turnovers in the first six minutes of the game in adjusting to Hancock's match-up zone defense. AHC held a 12-8 advantage at the 11:37 mark of the first half, and led as late as 17-14 before Sloboh assisted a 3-pointer from Hernandez with 8:25 on the clock to tie the game. Another triple from Hernandez and a lay-up from Sanchez opened up some breathing room for the Pirates, 22-17, and A pair of Dixon free throws closed a 19-5 VC run with 1:29 remaining, making the margin 35-22. A trey from Adrianna Vega off of a Sanchez assist set the halftime advantage at 38-25 for the Pirates.

Hancock pulled to within eight points twice in the second half, the final time at the 8:59 mark, 53-45, but could get no closer. VC, meanwhile, could not pull away from the Bulldogs, managing an 18-point lead at most, 49-67, with 2:19 left to play. Ventura came away with the 69-54 victory.

The Pirates will travel to Los Angeles Pierce College on Wednesday Feb. 12 for a 5:00 pm contest before returning home for their annual barbeque fundraising game against Santa Barbara on Saturday Feb. 15. Both games can be heard online live on the VC Women's Sports Network.