Pirate Cagers Pull Away From In Buddy's All-Star Opener

The Ventura College women's basketball team pulled away from San Bernardino Valley in the second half of Friday's game, posting a 77-47 victory over the Wolverines in the opening round of the Buddy's All-Star Classic at Los Angeles Valley College. Cece Quintino had a economical output with 28 points on just 19 shots while handing out 10 assists to lead VC (8-3). Talia Taufaasau followed with 23 points in the victory. Ventura advances to Saturday's semifinal against San Francisco at 5:00 pm in Valley Glen.

The teams went back-and-forth in the opening 10 minutes of play. A Quintino 3-pointer off an inside-out pass by LaDaesha Merriweather began a 7-0 Pirate run as VC held a 7-2 advantage early on. The Wolverines came back to hold leads of 12-11 and 15-14 before Taufaasau's lay-up at the 2:55 mark gave the Pirates the lead for good. the quarter ended with Ventura ahead 16-15. 

Early in the second period, the Pirates began to pull away. Merriweather cashed in an assist by Quintino inside, then helped a triple by Taufaasau to put VC up 21-15 less than a minute in. Madison Cvijanovich netted five straight points for Ventura during one stretch, and Quintino continued to score at will and VC opened up a 31-23 lead with 2:19 left to play. SBVC hung around, however, and Colleen Clow's bucket in the final minute of the half made the score 35-28 at halftime.

Ventura began to pull away in the third quarter, led by Quintino's personal 7-0 run to begin the stanza. San Bernardino pulled to within 53-42 with 3:06 on the clock when Taufaasau cashed in a Quintino dome for three, and Cece made a pair of free throws, Victoria Maciel hit from range on the right side off another Quintino assist to close the period with the Pirates ahead 61-43.

Taufaasau continued the Pirate run early in the fourth with two charity tosses, and Quintino handed out a pair of helpers to Maciel for three and to Clow for a deuce, respectively, and the Pirates were ahead 68-43 with 8:27 left to play, completing a 15-1 run. VC continued to build the lead throughout the final period, and Robin Prince's bucket in the final seconds set the final 77-47 margin.

Cvijanovich finished with seven points for the Pirates and Prince led VC's balanced rebounding with five boards. Quintino, Merriweather and Emma Larson all pulled in four caroms. Ventura won the rebounding battle 35-21 and shot 28-54 from the floor (52 percent) in the game. As a team, the Pirates assisted on 20 of their 28 field goals.

Ventura advances to the tournament semifinals on Saturday Dec. 8 against City College of San Francisco. Tip-off against the Rams is slated for 5:00 pm.