BASKETBALL ROUNDUP : Balanced Offense Propels Ventura Women to Victory

Ventura College opened Western State Conference Northern Division play with a 91-69 victory over host Cuesta in a women’s basketball game Wednesday night. Four players scored in double figures for Ventura (15-4 overall). Jennifer Wells had 25 points and Cori Herman added 20.

In other women’s games:

UC Santa Barbara 71, Cal State Northridge 60--CSUN (4-12) lost its eighth game in a row and fell to 1-6 at home. Jody Bittner had 16 points for CSUN.

Valley 76, Bakersfield 62--Rosa Mendez scored 29 points for Valley (20-4, 6-1) to a WSC Southern Division victory.

Canyons 62, Glendale 61--Jana Kovar had 21 points and 18 rebounds and Karen Sklar added 15 points and 20 rebounds to lead the Cougars (10-12, 4-3) to a WSC Southern Division victory.

MEN

Cal Lutheran 79, Whittier 69--Damon Ridley had 20 points and seven assists for host CLU in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference game. Derrick Clark added 15 points and eight rebounds for the Kingsmen (11-3, 3-0).

Canyons 87, Glendale 67--The Cougars (13-10) blew out the Vaqueros, 54-32, in the second half of the Western State Conference opener. Canyons was led by Rasaan Hall (17 points), Jason Joynes (15 points, 11 rebounds) and Cedrick Jones (six points, five steals, 15 assists). Kevin Collins had 17 for Glendale (11-10).

BOYS

San Fernando 65, Kennedy 40--Host San Fernando raced to a 15-0 lead and was never seriously challenged in the Northwest Valley Conference opener.

The Tigers (7-5) had 26 steals, including seven each by juniors Javier Ramos (16 points) and Joel Germon. Jerome Elliott added 18 points and 10 rebounds.

Cleveland 70, Granada Hills 57--Shawn Bankhead scored 22 points and Tooki Akinoyole added 14 for the host Cavaliers in a Northwest Valley Conference opener. Tyrone Jackman (17 points) and Jeff Brown (14) led Granada Hills (2-10).

Canoga Park 51, Grant 43--Glenn Davis had 14 points for the Hunters in a Valley Pac-8 Conference game.

Monroe 78, Van Nuys 63--Jeff Nadeau scored 25 points, including seven in the decisive third quarter, to lead the host Vikings (13-2, 4-0) in a Valley Pac-8 game.

Thousand Oaks 77, Channel Islands 41--Jason Hartman scored 15 points and pulled down 16 of the Lancers’ 56 rebounds, leading Thousand Oaks (16-1, 7-0) to a Marmonte League victory. Nick Foster had 19 points and 10 rebounds.

Simi Valley 81, Newbury Park 56--Vernon Simmons scored 26 points for Simi Valley (15-4, 6-1) in a Marmonte League game and Ryan Briggs had 16 assists--one short of the school record held by Butch Hawking. Briggs needs 65 to break Hawking’s career total of 438.

Agoura 57, Royal 50--Jeff Niemann had 14 points for host Agoura (10-7, 3-4) in a Marmonte League game. Steve Hodge led Royal with 15 points.

Buena 55, Oxnard 46--The Bulldogs (3-12, 2-4) outscored the Yellowjackets, 29-21, in the second half. Oxnard fell to 0-6 in Channel League play. Adam Fairbanks and Lance Caldwell each had 14 points for Buena.