SBCC hung with Ventura for the first half on Saturday night, then the eighth-ranked Pirates went on a 10-2 run to open the second stanza on the way to a 63-47 women's basketball victory at the Sports Pavilion.
Brooke Zamora scored 16 for the Pirates (23-5, 10-0), who won their 16th straight game and clinched the WSC North title. Destiny Renteria hit 4-5 from 3-point land and led the Vaqueros (9-16, 4-6) with her second straight 12-point game.
Stella Dulay had nine points and five boards for SBCC, which trailed by eight in the first half before closing the gap to 29-25 at halftime. Darla Morales added eight points and six rebounds.
Ventura won the second half 34-22, thanks to a 45 to 30 percent shooting advantage, and outshot the Vaqueros 40 to 34 percent for the game.
"What a great first half, we were playing really hard," said SBCC coach Sandrine Krul. "When you play that hard against VC in the first half, you can't have any letdowns. We had some missed defensive assignments but I we stuck to the game plan and played so hard.
"We got drilled at Cuesta and then, to come out and play as hard as we did tonight is a testament to this team's character. I could not be more blessed to coach this group."
After the Vaqueros closed within nine, the Pirates went on a 13-3 run and stretched the lead to 19 points (52-33) on a follow shot by Madison O'Donnell with 10:12 remaining.
SBCC hosts Hancock in its final home game on Wednesday at 7 p.m.
