Ventura Final Four Bound!

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL:  In a hard-fought contest in front of a large partisan crowd at the VC Athletic Event Center, the Pirates' women's basketball team pulled away late, defeating Long Beach City College 90-81 in the CCCAA Southern California Regional Finals to advance to the CCCAA State Final Four next weekend in Cerritos. Adrianne Sloboh produced her second career high in as many games with 24 points and 13 rebounds while Lisa Marie Sanchez poured in 23 points. Cynthia Hernandez had 16 points and Brooke Dixon netted 12 points with seven boards for the Pirates (30-3). Micaela Pericone-Kapp had a big game off the bench with eight points.

Ventura turned a 6-6 tie at the 17:33 mark of the first half into a 17-6 advantage four minutes later by getting into its up-tempo running game. Following a free throw by Sanchez, Sloboh hit a drive to the bucket and Dixon hit a charity toss. Adrianna Vega took a dribble to a jumper for two and then assisted a 3-pointer by Hernandez. Dixon finished the 11-0 run with a transition lay-up from a Sanchez pass. Long Beach regrouped, however, and brough the Pirates back to within sight through solid transition defense and timely 3-point shooting. The Vikings mad eth score 21-18 at the 10:59 mark of the period. The Pirate advantage stayed between three and eight points for the remainder of the half until LBCC sank a 3-pointer in the final minute to pull to within 46-45 at halftime.

Sloboh began the second half with an offensive rebound and putback, and VC held a a tight lead throughout the first part of the second period. Long Beach managed to tie the score at 52-52 with 16:17 on the clock, but each time the Vikings hit a big shot, the Pirates seemed to have an answer. A Sloboh bucket followed by two Hernandez free throws put VC back up by four, 56-52 with 14:56 remaining. Vega nailed a triple to make the score 63-59 at the 12:32 mark.

Long Beach, however, kept up the fight, pulling even at 65-65, and again at 67-67 with 9:40 on the clock. Two free throws by Makayla Morrison began a 7-0 VC run, giving them the lead for good. Hernandez followed with a charity toss and a bucket, followed by a Sloboh deuce giving Ventura a 74-67 lead at the 8:30 mark. Sanchez hit a lay-up to give Ventura a nine-point cushion, 78-69, and Ventura never led by less than six points again down the stretch. Ventura hit 10 of 13 free throws in the final two minutes to preserve the victory and the program's record 13th State Final Four appearance.

Ventura, SoCal No. 1, will travel to Cerritos on Friday March 14 to take on NorCal No. 2 seed Fresno City College (29-3) in one semifinal game. The other semifinal will feature SoCal No. 2 Mt. San Antonio (28-4) against NorCal No. 1 San Joaquin Delta (27-5). Game times will be announced on Sunday. Pirate fans who cannot make the trip will be able to listen to the game live online on the VC Women's Sports Network.