Ventura Women Defend Territory : Basketball: Pirates overcome poor shooting in 58-42 playoff victory over Trade Tech.

Everyone on the Ventura College women’s basketball team should take a few minutes from practice today, look to the heavens and give thanks for the defensive skills they have learned.

The Pirates needed every steal they came up with, every turnover they caused, to defeat Trade Tech, 58-42, in a second-round game of the Southern California regional Thursday night at home.

Ventura (26-2), ranked second in the state and the top-seeded team in the regional, will play host to Cerritos in a third-round matchup Saturday at 5:30 p.m. Cerritos beat Citrus, 69-67, on Thursday.

It will be only the second regional game for the Pirates because they had a first-round bye. A victory over Cerritos will put them in the state Final Eight tournament March 2-4 at Orange Coast College.

Ventura had better generate more offense in that game or the Pirates’ season could be over. Ventura made only 33.9% of its shots (21 of 62), including only three of 16 three-point attempts (18.8%).

But it was the Pirates’ defense that gave the Lady Techsters problems all night. Trade Tech committed 30 turnovers, many of them on traveling calls.

“Our defense held us together,” said Ventura Coach Ned Mircetic. “This is why we practice defense every single day, for games like these.”

All that work came in handy against a Trade Tech team that dressed only seven players. The Lady Techsters (15-15) made only 17 of 53 shots (32.0%).

Still, Ventura could not open much of a lead until the final minutes.

The Pirates were ahead at halftime, 21-14, after making only seven of 30 shots and only five of 10 free throws.

Forward Julie Hardy, who paced Ventura with a 21.5-point average during the regular season, scored 15 points. She converted only two of 14 shots in the first half and five of 24 in the game.

“I thought we were nervous,” Mircetic said. “We have a couple of kids on this team who have never played in the playoffs. But I don’t know if that’s an excuse.”

Freshman point guard Marina Reyes scored a game-high 16 points, including 13 in the second half, and had six steals. Reyes created many more Trade Tech turnovers with her defense.

Trade Tech Coach Richard Wells said much of the blame rested with his own players.

“Long Beach and Harbor press a lot more than (Ventura) did,” Wells said of two opponents Trade Tech faced this season. “That wasn’t the problem. We just had poor ball-handling in the first half. . . . We just didn’t handle it well.”

A relieved Mircetic tried to see the silver lining afterward.

“At this time of the (season), the winners step forward. We’ll learn a lesson from this.”