No. 4 Ventura edges Vaqueros 77-67

Ventura used a 14-4 run late in the third quarter on Saturday night to vault past SBCC 77-67 in a WSC North game at the Sports Pavilion.

The first-place Pirates, ranked No. 4 in Southern California, won for the 13th time in 14 games to improve to 19-4 overall and 5-0 in conference. Ventura had beaten its first four WSC North opponents by an average of 35.3 points.

Kesler Johnson led Santa Barbara (11-10, 2-3) with a season-high 22 points and five rebounds. Destinee King recorded her sixth straight double-double with 21 points and 18 rebounds. She has 15 double-doubles in 21 games.

The Pirates won the first quarter 21-13 and SBCC took the second stanza 20-12 to forge a 33-all tie at halftime.

"We played with focus and intensity and I'm proud of all the players who kept us accountable to the game plan," said SBCC coach Sandrine Krul. "We played really well in the first half. Then we had a few turnovers in a row and missed some open shots in the third quarter.

"You can't do that against Ventura because they will capitalize on your mistakes."

Elissa Root added nine points on 3-3 shooting from downtown. Jocelin Petatan had seven points, seven rebounds and five assists.

King hit back-to-back jumpers to pull the Vaqueros within two at 41-39 with 6:11 to go in the third. Ventura responded with a pair of 3-pointers during a 14-4 burst that stretched the lead to 55-43.

The Pirates led 57-47 after three quarters. Aubri Smith topped Ventura with 19 points.

Ventura won the field-goal battle, 46.6 to 37.8 percent, and made nine more free throws (17-27 to 8-15). The Vaqueros won the battle of the boards 47-29.

SBCC will complete the first round of conference on Wednesday with a 5 p.m. game at L.A. Pierce in Woodland Hills.