Sophomore guard Aaliyah Pauling tossed in 18 points with eight assists and five rebounds on Thursday as SBCC topped College of San Mateo 60-54 in the opening round of the Gervasoni Holiday Classic at De Anza College in Cupertino.
Pauling hit a trio of 3-pointers for the Vaqueros (9-4), who snapped a 23-23 halftime tie with a 15-9 third-quarter run. SBCC made just 6-of-30 from 3-point range and the Bulldogs (4-6) were 3-11.
Meagan Moore added 10 points while Lauren Noggle had nine rebounds and five points. The Vaqueros won the board battle, 38-33.
Tatiana Ong contributed seven rebounds and four points off the bench and Maaria Jaakkola had seven points.
The Vaqueros were playing their first game since losing two straight on Dec. 13-14, nearly two weeks ago.
"Rest helps us a lot," said coach Sandrine Krul. "And when we play everybody and they score 3-5 points, we do well. Maaria had a great game off the bench and was dangerous from the 3-point line.
"Also, we tend to do well when Aaliyah has a big assist night."
All 13 Vaqueros played on Thursday and eight of them scored four or more points.
The Vaqueros will take on Monterey Peninsula (4-9) in the first semifinal on Friday at 5 p.m. The Lobos knocked off Feather River 64-60 on Thursday.
