Destinee King posted season highs with 30 points and 20 rebounds on Wednesday night, leading SBCC to a 66-37 rout of Hancock in its WSC North opener in Santa Maria.
The Vaqueros (10-7, 1-0) won their third straight and sixth in seven games by outscoring the Bulldogs (11-5, 0-1) by 21 in the last two quarters (35-14). Hancock was ranked No. 14 in Southern California and No. 1 in the state in defense.
King, a 5-10 freshman guard/forward from Antelope, Calif., had 12 points and nine rebounds in the first quarter as the Vaqueros built a 16-10 lead. They outscored the Bulldogs 15-5 to end the second period, producing a 31-23 halftime lead.
"Our defense really stepped up against a ranked team," said coach Sandrine Krul. "We played like a team and kept feeding the ball to Destinee. We did a good job of recognizing the mismatches. Kesler was huge off the bench."
Kesler Johnson added 10 points and five rebounds and Jeanie Pattison had seven points and seven rebounds. Jocelin Petatan contributed six points, six rebounds, four assists and three steals.
King scored 10 more in the third period when the Vaqueros topped the home team 19-9. Hancock entered as the No. 1 defensive unit in the state, giving up just 41.8 per game. But the Bulldogs had only played two teams with records over .500 and lost both times. The 37 points were a season low for Hancock.
King hit 11-18 from the field and 8-11 from the free-throw line on a night the Vaqueros made 72 percent (13-18). King recorded her 11th double-double in 17 games.
The Vaqueros led 50-32 after three quarters and stretched that to 57-33 on a layup by Christina Mattis with 5:44 to play.
Santa Barbara outshot the Bulldogs 40 to 22.2 percent and outrebounded them 44-34. Fifteen players got in the game for the Vaqueros and their bench outscored their counterparts 16-3.
Syenna Ramirez led Hancock with 18 points and five rebounds.
After a bye on Saturday, the Vaqueros will host Cuesta on Wednesday at 5 p.m.
