SANTA BARBARA, CA – The SBCC women's basketball team continued a solid start to the 2022-23 season with a comfortable 68-64 win over Antelope Valley on Tuesday, setting a new season-high in points.
With their second straight win, the Vaqueros improve to 4-2 overall and 2-0 at the Sports Pavilion. AVC dropped to a 3-3 record.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Marauders jumped out to a 12-5 lead after hitting a couple threes and stayed ahead until the final four minutes of the opening half. The Vaqueros missed all four of their threes in the opening quarter, but would go 3-for-7 (.429) in the second. Guards Eva Carrejo and Isabella Favazzo connected from deep on back-to-back possessions to put SBCC up 32-26. Favazzo hit another in the final seconds of the half to put the Vaqs up 37-31 at the break.
The timely three-point shooting continued in the second half. SBCC's first three buckets were once again a combination of threes by Carrejo and Favazzo, and freshman center Paityn Persson added a traditional three-point play to give the Vaqueros a commanding 49-33 advantage.
Santa Barbara remained up double-digits the rest of the way, still leading by 16 after a pair of Carrejo free throws with 4:07 to go in the fourth. The Marauders made a late run to cut it to four, but never got it to a one-possession game.
Carrejo followed up Saturday's 14-point outing with a season-high 18 (3-8 3FG) to lead the team, also adding five boards and four steals. Her long-range counterpart Favazzo knocked down 4-of-6 shots – all from three – finishing with 12 points. She has been the Vaqueros' top sniper in the early part of the year, averaging a team-leading 2.2 threes per game on 38.2 percent from outside.
Persson continued to be a great option in the post, getting to the basket with great fundamentals and even dropping a second half dime to a cutting Isabella Jensen Williams for a layup. Persson finished in double-figures for the fourth straight game, posting 16 points on 7-of-15 (.467) from the field.
Jensen Williams had her own ridiculous double-double stat line with 11 points, 17 rebounds, six assists, six steals, reaching career-highs in steals and on the boards.
NEXT UP
The Vaqueros will be back in action during the opening weekend of December with the two-day Mt. San Jacinto Crossover on Dec. 2-3.
