After Brief Reminder, Monarchs March On

Never underestimate the motivational powers of a frightening flashback.

The Valley College women’s basketball team can attest to that after defeating visiting Moorpark, 84-63, Tuesday night in a second-round game of the Southern California Regional.

Valley (26-9) couldn’t dart away from Moorpark (12-17) until the second half, reminding the Monarchs of how close they came to losing the last meeting between the teams. They escaped with a 58-54 victory Jan. 9 in a Western State Conference interdivisional game.

“They do match up well with us,” said John Taylor, Valley coach. “The smaller teams tend to do that with us. Our advantage is our quickness, so we do better against the taller teams. Our forwards and center are really guards.”

This time Valley, seeded fifth in the regional, dusted the Raiders after intermission and advanced to a third-round game Saturday against Chaffey, an 82-67 winner over Hancock on Tuesday.

The Monarchs need one more victory to reach the state final eight tournament March 7-9 in San Jose.

It was the third victory this season for Valley over Moorpark, seeded 21st in the regional. But it took a while to materialize.

The Monarchs turned a 41-37 halftime lead into a 59-45 advantage with 12 minutes 20 seconds remaining and cruised the rest of the way. They led by as many as 25 points before settling for the 21-point victory.

Guards Valery Brady and Shawanda Hotchkiss paced the Monarchs’ attack, and forward Lisa Nielsen controlled the boards.

Brady, a sophomore from Notre Dame High, scored 25 points. Hotchkiss, a freshman from Channel Islands High, had 22 points.

Brady scored 15 points in the first half and finished with three of Valley’s eight three-point baskets.

Freshman guard Virginia Juarez made four three-pointers and finished with 14 points.

Nielsen, a 5-foot-9 freshman forward from Saugus High, grabbed 13 rebounds and converted several offensive boards to finish with nine points.

The Raiders, who defeated Southwestern, 65-52, on Friday, rallied from an 11-2 deficit to go ahead, 34-33, late in the first half before the Monarchs regained the lead.

Moorpark stayed close in the half by sinking 12 of 15 free throws while Valley made three of four.

Freshman guard Trisha Palmquist scored 27 points and had 11 rebounds for the Raiders, and 5-10 center Theresa Rough scored 10 points and had seven rebounds.

The Monarchs outrebounded Moorpark, 50-39, and took 19 more shots. Valley shot 42.7% (35 of 82) from the field, and the Raiders shot 36.5% (23 of 63).

Ventura 99, Golden West 44--Tori Anderson had 17 points and six assists, and Brianna Kanongata’a added 15 points for the top-ranked Pirates (31-0) in the Southern California Regional at Ventura.

The Pirates built a 50-18 halftime lead as Rustler center Blithe Lensey got into early foul trouble.

The Pirates had balanced scoring. Seven players had seven or more points.

April Garrish had 14 points, K.K. Johns added 10 and Marina Torres had nine points and nine steals.

The Pirates had 43 offensive rebounds.

In a third-round game Saturday, Ventura will play host to Victor Valley, a 77-75 winner over Irvine Valley.