After leading for most of the second half on Wednesday night, the SBCC women's basketball team lost a 68-67 heartbreaker to Moorpark in overtime. After Lindsay Neuner missed two free throws, the Vaqueros (5-12, 0-2) had the ball with 13.6 seconds left.
They called timeout with 9.2 seconds to go and set up a play for Victoria Jackson. She weaved through the defense on the right of the lane but her last-second layup was a bit too hard and the first-place Raiders (11-7, 3-0) survived the upset bid to win the WSC North game in the Sports Pavilion.
Jackson led SBCC with 17 points, seven assists, six rebounds and three steals. Andrea Morales added 16 points and nine boards for the Vaqueros, who closed the first half on a 12-4 run to take a 30-26 lead.
"You can't fault Vic for being upset, she's such a competitor," said 11th-year coach Sandrine Krul. "She made tons of big plays in this game."
The Vaqueros have dropped three of their last four games and two of those were in overtime. It was the first home game for Santa Barbara in seven weeks.
"It's all about execution and for two days straight, that's what we worked on this week," said Krul. "We stayed with the game plan. We knew what we needed to do. Moorpark is a good team.
"We drew up the play for Vic and it was awesome. She read it perfect. If I didn't have confidence in her, I wouldn't have run the play for her. Our players really care and they're crying right now. I will say this was our best game in terms of effort and execution even though we came up one point short."
Stella Dulay had 12 points in her first start for the Vaqueros, who took their biggest lead at 45-35 on a 17-footer by Andrea Morales with 13:23 to play. The Raiders responded with a 13-3 outburst and tied it at 48 on a three-point play by Dagmar Ramirez with 9:25 to play.
Ramirez led all scorers with 23 points. There were 13 lead changes in the first half and 19 in the game to go along with eight ties.
A layup by Darla Morales gave the home team a 61-60 lead with 1:17 left in regulation but Neuner tied it by making the second of two free throws with 20.7 seconds left. SBCC got off a contested shot at the free-throw line but it was off the mark and the game went to overtime.
Jackson, a 5-1 sophomore from Oxnard High, hit a 15-footer to open the extra session. She made a key steal at the 3:31 mark and then assisted on an 18-foot jumper by Dulay that gave the Vaqueros a 67-64 lead with 2:40 to play. Moorpark missed a 3-point try, then got the offensive rebound and Christina Provenzano hit a triple to tie it with 1:12 to go.
Neuner missed the mark on two free throws with 34.1 seconds left but Ramirez grabbed the rebound and was fouled. She made the first of two free throws to put the visitors up a point at 68-67.
Both teams shot close to 40 percent and Moorpark won the rebound battle 51-37. The Raiders struggled at the free-throw line, making just 18 of 38 (47.4 percent).
The Vaqueros will host Cuesta on Saturday at 7 p.m.
