By Ryan Graff, SBCC Sports Information
SBCC went up by seven points in the first half of Saturday's consolation final of its MTXE women's basketball tournament, but Riverside rallied to post a 67-51 victory.
The Vaqueros (2-4) established their largest lead at 20-13, scoring seven unanswered points off of a Mizhrua Bautista field goal and 3-pointer and a Darla Morales bucket with 7:45 remaining in the opening period. Bautista recorded a team-high 11 points and shot 67 percent from the field.
But Riverside (5-2) responded with an eight-point run of its own, knocking down back-to-back shots from beyond the arc and then a two to regain the lead at 21-20 with 5 1/2 minutes to go.
Morales would score again less than a minute later to give City College its final lead of the contest at 22-21. Last year's leading scorer among Santa Barbara's five returners finished with eight points, four rebounds and three assists.
And although the teams swapped buckets momentarily, the Tigers began to pull away just before the half and went into the intermission up 32-27.
"We're playing tough; we just have to sustain," SBCC head coach Sandrine Krul said. "We can't go away from what's working, but we have young guards, so it's going to take time. But man, their effort -- I cannot complain about."
The Vaqueros' tournament-long struggles with transition defense and limiting second-chance opportunities persisted in the second half. They were out-rebounded 64-35, and 36 of the Tigers' boards came on the offensive end.
SBCC also had trouble in the foul department, committing 21 to Riverside's 13, which allowed the Tigers to outscore them 14-5 from the charity stripe. Riverside shot 61 percent from the line, while the Vaqs made just half of their free-throw attempts.
Less than five minutes into the second half, Riverside extended its lead to double-digits at 42-32. The unit was able to maintain a similar spread for the remainder of the game on the shoulders of Tamara Herring, who scored half of her team's first-half points and finished with 23. The 5-10 guard was named to the all-tournament team.
Other strong performances for SBCC came from Destiny Renteria, who came off the bench to go 3-of-5 from downtown and tally nine points with four rebounds. Stella Dulay registered eight points and four rebounds.
Victoria Jackson, who is leading the red and black in assists this season, dished out six helpers to complement four points and five rebounds.
The Vaqueros have played a strong crop of opponents to begin their 2014-15 campaign, including the Northern Cal preseason No. 14 Solano Falcons in their MTXE opener on Thursday night.
Krul acknowledged that strength of schedule, saying that it will help her team in the long run when it comes time for WSC North play.
"Because the way we run playoffs, everything is based on a numbers system," Krul said. "So we always schedule the toughest teams because it doesn't hurt us to lose to those teams. So what that does, that gets us ready for conference."
Sequoias, ranked 7th in Northern Cal, won the MTXE title with an 88-62 rout of Solano. Moorpark took third after a 68-60 win over Santa Ana.
Santa Barbara travels to the 16-team Sequoias Tournament in Visalia on Dec. 4-7. The Vaqueros open with Santa Rosa on Dec. 4 at 8 p.m.
All-Tournament Team -- Sequoias: Corissa Turley (MVP), Vanessa Mancera, Alexandria Tobie. Solano: Nikki Andaya, Adrianna Jones. Moorpark: Lindsay Neuner. Riverside: Tamara Herring.
