Valley Beats Moorpark by Holding On at the Line

From the one-that-almost-got-away file comes this tale of Valley College women’s basketball.

After leading by as many as 19 points midway through the second half, the Monarchs had to hold off a furious rally by Moorpark to win, 88-81, Thursday night in a first-round game of the Valley tournament.

Valley led, 69-50, with 10 minutes 40 seconds left to play, but saw the advantage dwindle to 82-81 when Carrlie Billone sank two free throws for Moorpark with 42 seconds remaining.

However, Valery Brady, a sophomore from Notre Dame High, put the game away for Valley by sinking four free throws in the final 35 seconds.

The Monarchs will face Cypress in a semifinal game tonight at 8. Cypress defeated Citrus, 58-53, in another first-round game.

Freshman guard Shawanda Hotchkiss scored 16 points for Valley (6-3), but it was guard Virginia Juarez who ignited the Monarchs with three three-point baskets during a 19-0 run that gave them a 69-50 cushion.

Juarez finished with 12 points.

Guard Trisha Palmquist scored 25 points for Moorpark (3-3), including 17 in the second half. Corey Phillips added 23 points for the Raiders.

Valley forward Cathy Flores grabbed 10 rebounds and teammate Lisa Nielsen had nine.

In another first-round game:

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Ventura 85, Mt. San Antonio 37--Even when seemingly uninspired, the Pirates (9-0) crush opponents.

Sophomore guard Tori Anderson scored 19 points, Cindy Jensen came off the bench to score 14 and point guard Marina Reyes contributed 12 points and five steals for Ventura.

The Pirates haven’t been challenged this season. They entered the game with an average winning margin of 39.7 points and were fresh from sweeping through the Sequoias tournament last weekend.

Still, sixth-year Coach Ned Mircetic wasn’t overjoyed by Ventura’s effort against outclassed Mt. San Antonio.

“We didn’t play with the passion that we played with last week,” Mircetic said. “It was rather uneventful.”

The Pirates streaked to a 9-0 lead on two layups by Reyes and two baskets by center April Garrish, who finished with eight points, and held leads of 19-1, 23-3 and 27-5 before Mt. San Antonio (1-5) rallied to get within 39-20 at halftime.

Ventura outshot the Mounties 47.2% (35 of 74) to 27.2% (15 of 55) and outrebounded them, 62-25. Mt. San Antonio committed 34 turnovers.

In the other semifinal today at 6 p.m., Ventura will play Chaffey, which defeated Golden West on Thursday, 86-59.