Women's Basketball Calims Home Opener in a Rout

Leading wire-to-wire, the Pirates women's basketball team routed West Hills Lemoore 86-44 Thursday in VC's first appearance of the season at the Athletic Event Center. Kylie Gallick posted her fourth straight double-double with 28 points and 17 rebounds and Sofia Torres-Reyes made four three's en route to her 14 points. Jocelyn Contreras quietly totaled 13 points and Jasmine Glover made her season debut with 10 points.

The Pirates (4-0) took the early 4-0 lead on a pair of free throws and a short jumper by Alisha Cruz-Lisberg. Following a Golden Eagle bucket, Ventura went on an 18-3 run over six minutes to take complete control. Torres-Reyes hit from range off a Contreras assist before Gallick god warmed-up with an inside score from Torres-Reyes' dime. Gallick then hit two more field goals before West Hills hit a three at the 2:55 mark to make it 13-5. Gallick and Torres-Reyes hit a deuce and trey, respectively, on back-to-back possessions and Cruz-Lisberg helped another bucket by Gallick before making her own runner in the paint to make it 22-5 with 1:13 remaining in the first quarter. Haley Bennett completed an old-fashioned 3-point play to make it 25-8 at the quarter break.

Contreras hit a two and a three, and Torres-Reyes connected from behind the arc as the Pirates went on an 8-0 run to begin the second period. Gallick scored nine straight points for VC in the quarter before Contreras closed the half with a slicing lay-up. Ventura led West Hills 44-18 at intermission.

The pace slowed a bit for Ventura in the third quarter, with Gallick scoring on the first possession and Contreras' free throw coming a minute later. VC went two minutes without scoring before Contreras hit from the floor again, and Dani Henley added a lay-up off an assist by Torres-Reyes. Meanwhile, the Pirate defense held fast as Ventura outscored West Hills 16-8 in the stanza. VC led 60-26 entering the final period.

West Hills went on a 12-2 run to open the final period, closing VC's 34 point lead to 24, but Gallick scored inside at the 6:46 to end the Eagles' roll. Torres-Reyes hit another 3-pointer and Glover scored on consecutive possessions, the latter a 3-point play, and the Pirates pushed the lead back over 30, 75-42, midway through the quarter. Ventura continued the roll to the 86-44 final margin.

Torres-Reyes added seven rebounds and seven assists to her point total and Contreras also grabbed seven boards with three dimes. Cruz-Lisberg scored eight points with four rebounds and four assists and Glover also added four assists. Alina Olivo added five boards to the VC effort.

Ventura continues the VC-Kiwanis Tournament of Champions on Saturday Nov. 19, hosting Long Beach at 3:00 pm.  Other games of the tournament include Long Beach vs. West Hills Lemoore on Friday Nov. 18 at 5:00 pm and West Los Angeles against West Hills on Saturday at 1:00 pm.