Pirate WBB edged out in home opener

The VC women's basketball team dropped a narrow decision Friday in the team' home opener, falling to Fullerton 49-45. Kayla Lumas led the effort with 11 points and Charnelle Nichols had 10 with a team-best eight rebounds in the game. Olivia Decierdo handed out five assists for the Pirates.

Ventura took charge early, outscoring the Hornets in the opening period. Sofia Salgado's 3-pointer opened up an 8-point lead, 14-6, with 3:09 on the clock and Lumas followed with a lay-up off a dime from Nichols to extend the advantage to double-figures. Salgado assisted a Nichols lay-up at the end of the period for an 18-8 margin at the quarter break.

Lumas and Nichols hit back-to-back jumpers to extend the Pirate lead and Decierdo's lay-up at the 5:27 mark made it 29-13 for VC. Unfortunately, the Ventura offense went cold at that point, and Fullerton went to a 14-0 run to close the half.

Sienna Angell made a pair of three's in the third period to keep Ventura on the plus side of the score, and a triple from Salgado and Alyssa Ballesteros' free throw put the Prates ahead by one at the end of the stanza.

Both teams went cold in the final quarter. The Hornets captured a small lead early in the period and Ventura was unable to pull back even, dropping the 49-44 decision.

Angell, Decierdo and Salgado each scored six points for Ventura and Angell added six rebounds. Decierdo recorded three steals in the game.

VC has a quick turnaround, hosting Los Angeles Valley on Saturday Nov. 15 at 1:00 pm.