Ventura’s First Title Only a Game Away

They are making a mockery of the whole thing.

For the second consecutive day, the Ventura College women’s basketball team showed its fabulous form, this time with a 77-53 blowout of Sacramento in a semifinal game of the State championships at the San Jose State Event Center Arena.

Ventura (34-0) goes after the school’s first women’s state title against Saddleback (31-0) today at 5. Saddleback reached the final with a 54-53 victory over Solano.

The Pirates again relied on their air-tight defense in the extremely physical game to force turnovers and turn them into points. Sacramento (23-12) committed 43 turnovers, including 23 in the first half.

“It was one of the toughest games we played all year,” said Adria Sneed, Ventura’s 6-foot-1 freshman center. “A game like that can wear you down. But I got one more game to go, so I can handle it.”

Sneed tied guard K.K. Johns with a team-high 16 points and led all rebounders with 14 to pace Ventura, which hasn’t been tested in months.

The Pirates advanced to the semifinals with a 103-45 pounding of Feather River on Thursday and nobody has come within 15 points of beating them since they defeated Hancock, 81-67, on Jan. 31.

Sacramento stayed close for most of the first half but went cold halfway through the second half as Ventura took advantage of almost every mistake and missed shot.

The Panthers pulled to within 44-43 on a layup by center Tameka Peoples with 13 minutes to play but Ventura turned up the heat.

Sophomore point guard Marina Torres answered with a layup and the Pirates took off on a 22-2 tear. Sneed scored six consecutive points during the run.

There were 35 fouls, including four each against Sacramento’s Kim Martinez and Chris Delgadillo. Martinez, who led the state in scoring with a 24.1-point average, finished with a team-high 19 points.

“It was a physical game but we have to adapt to those games,” said Ned Mircetic, Ventura coach. “It’s going to get more physical in the championship game.”

Torres had 11 steals and teammate Cindi Jensen scored 12 points, although she sank only one of five three-point shots, her specialty.

Ventura made 27 of 86 (31.4%) field-goal attempts and 19 of 26 (73.1%) free throws. Sacramento shot 30.6% (19 of 62) from the field and 25% (three of 12) from the free-throw line.