Ventura Develops Unwanted Habits : Women’s basketball: Pirates nearly squander big lead again but still turn back Valley to win tournament title.

There are good trends and then there are nasty habits like the one the Ventura College women’s basketball team has picked up and that Coach Ned Mircetic doesn’t find endearing.

To him, it looks more like a virus.

For the second consecutive night, the Pirates faltered after building a sizable lead and had to hang on for what should have been an easier victory, this time over Valley, 85-77, in Saturday’s championship game of the Valley tournament.

Ventura (11-0) jumped ahead by 25 points, 59-34, with a little more than 15 minutes left to play, before turning sloppy and allowing the Monarchs (7-4) to narrow the gap. The Pirates nearly gave away their semifinal game against Chaffey on Friday before winning, 84-81.

“We’ve done that [played sloppily] the last couple of nights and that concerns me very much,” Mircetic said. “We had a chance to close out Chaffey and blew a 21-point lead and we had a chance to close out Valley.”

It was more like slamming the door and tossing away the key.

The Pirates cruised to a 48-27 halftime advantage behind forwards Cindi Jensen (13 points in the half) and Adria Sneed (11 points).

Jensen, who finished with 23 points, scored three three-point baskets in the half. Sneed finished with 16 points.

The Pirates kept up the pressure early in the second half with balanced scoring and a swarming man-to-man defense that made it difficult for Valley to get off good shots. But then the Monarchs rallied and outscored the Pirates, 50-37, in the half.

Freshman forward Jacque Tennies scored 10 points to lead Valley’s second-half effort and guards Valery Brady, Shawanda Hotchkiss and Virginia Juarez each scored nine. Brady led the Monarchs with 19 points and Hotchkiss had 13 points and eight rebounds.

Ventura point guard Marina Torres Reyes, who scored 11 points against Valley, was named the tournament’s most valuable player.

Despite their shaky second-half display against the Monarchs, the Pirates made a believer of Valley Coach John Taylor.

“They are awfully tough,” Taylor said. “I think they could compete at a good [Division II] level. They don’t have weaknesses.”