COLLEGE ROUNDUP : Ventura Storms Past San Diego City, 129-90

Ventura College overwhelmed San Diego City, 129-90, Saturday night in the first round of the Southern California Regional men’s basketball playoffs at Ventura.

Ventura, the top-ranked team in the state, posted its 13th straight victory in dominant fashion over San Diego City (10-17), the 32nd-seeded team.

The Pirates were led by freshman forward Brandon Jessie, who scored a game-high 34 points and grabbed 10 rebounds. Calvin Curry added 23 points and Mike King had 17 points and 10 rebounds.

San Diego City was led by sophomore guard Eric Jones, who scored 24 points.

In another men’s playoff game:

MiraCosta 73, Canyons 65--The Cougars (18-15) could not hold a 35-33 halftime lead and were outplayed under the basket in the second half of the first-round Southern California Regional game.

MiraCosta (20-8) scored several points on offensive rebounds. Rasaan Hall had 19 points and Jason Joynes added 15 for Canyons. Cedric Jones had 10 points and seven assists.

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

Ventura 70, Cuesta 34--Jennifer Wells scored 19 points, and Nicole Ellis added 14 as Ventura (25-4) advanced to the state championship tournament with a victory over visiting Cuesta (24-8) in a Southern California Regional final.

Cori Herman and Tara Sanders each added 12 points for the Pirates, who built a commanding 32-10 halftime advantage. Ventura will open the state tournament with a home game Thursday against College of the Siskiyous.

Harbor 97, Valley 78--Amy Horst recorded season highs of 27 points and 19 rebounds, but the Lady Monarchs (30-5) committed 40 turnovers in a Southern California Regional final against visiting Harbor (28-3).

Harbor guard Bridgete Williams, the second-leading scorer in the state, matched her season average with 39 points, including 22 in the second half. Valley held a 49-47 halftime lead before committing 23 turnovers in the second half. Luscinda Silva finished with 12 points and seven rebounds for Valley.

TRACK

Mountain Pacific Sports Federation championship--The Cal State Northridge women’s track team claimed second place in the team scoring at the first Mountain Pacific Sports Federation indoor championships at the Reno Livestock Center. Teresa Stricklin led the Matadors, winning the shotput with a put of 48 feet 2 1/4 inches.

The Northridge men finished fourth behind Utah State, Cal and Stanford. Again, a shotput victory was the Matador highlight: Joe Hicks reached 58-6 1/2 to win the event.

Derek Scurry was the other individual champion from Northridge, winning the men’s long jump with a leap of 26-3 1/2. Scurry’s mark automatically qualifies him for the NCAA indoor championships March 13 in Indianapolis.

On the track, the Northridge men won the 4x400 relay with a clocking of 3:14.19, edging Cal by .51 seconds. The women’s long relay team recorded a time of 3:49.05 to finish second behind UNLV (3:46.68).

Other top performances by Northridge women included: Tannel House, second in the women’s long jump at 19-4; Tanya Lynch, second in the triple jump at 39-2 1/2; Lisa Gill, fifth in the women’s high jump at 5-6; Kim Young, second in the women’s 55-meter hurdles with a time of 7.88 seconds; and Erin Morris, third in the hurdles at 8.08.

Among Northridge men, Marc Harisay was third in the shotput 58-1 3/4, and Clayton Tharington was second in the triple jump with a mark of 47-11 3/4.

BASEBALL

The Master’s 7-9, UC San Diego 3-7--Master’s broke open the first game at UC San Diego with six straight hits to begin the third inning. Dan O’Sullivan went three for four with a run batted in and Darin Brebes was two for four with two RBIs for the Mustangs. O’Sullivan added two hits in the second game to spark the sweep.