The City College women’s basketball team fell to the undefeated Ventura Pirates 77-67 in a tough fought game Saturday night at the Sports Pavilion.
The game was evenly matched early in the first quarter until the Pirates pulled away and gained an eight point lead over the Lady Vaqueros going into the second quarter.
City College quickly turned things around in the second quarter and went on an impressive 15 to two point run giving them their biggest lead of the game at 30-24. However, the Pirates rallied back and were able to tie the game going into the half at 33-33.
“When we got our lead we started hyping each other up, that’s what really helps us,” said freshman forward Destinee King. “We worked hard, we played hard.”
Ventura came out strong after some halftime adjustments and took advantage of the Lady Vaqueros mistakes. It was a strong third quarter for the Pirates as they outscored the City College 24-14 giving them a 10 point lead going into the 4th quarter.
City College head coach Sandrine Krul recognized how costly the third quarter was to her team, saying that they made some uncharacteristic fouls which allowed the Pirates to go on a scoring run.
“We lost the game at about the 7:40 mark in the 3rd quarter,” Krul said. “You cannot make mistakes against Ventura and we had three turnovers in arrow.”
King also acknowledged her team’s mistakes saying that there were things that needed to be done better defensively.
“Our philosophy is two and two,” King said. “So when they’re hitting shots we’re suppose to get a stop and make a shot, but we went away from that in the second half and that’s what hurt us”
The Lady Vaqueros kept their composure and traded baskets throughout the fourth quarter with the Pirates but fell 77-67.
King and teammate Kesler Johnson both had strong offensive preferences as they accounted for over half of the team’s total offense. King had 21 points and 18 rebounds, while Johnson had 22 points and five rebounds in the game.
Despite the loss there were a lot of positives that the team and coaching staff were able to take away from the game.
“The biggest thing is we were a team tonight, the personal accountability they had with each other and fighting for loose balls was awesome,” Krul said. “When you walk in the gym and watch that game, you had no idea who was ranked.”
The players also recognized how well they played as a team against the Pirates.
“The last two games we kinda struggled because we went away from what we do best,” King said. “I hope we can continue to work and play hard like this the rest of the season and produce some wins.”
King felt that their performance against the undefeated Pirates was something to build on and take as a positive. She explained how they have been blowing everyone out by 30 to 40 points so a 10 point loss is not that as bad as it could be.
“Everyone that we played, they just played with heart, with pride,” Krul said. “You only get better from games like this.”
The Lady Vaqueros record is now 2-3 in conference and 11-10 overall and they travel to LA Pierce Wednesday Jan. 27 to take on the Brahmas.
