Valley Women Were Clocked in Loss at Ventura

Nobody asked me, but the Valley College women’s basketball team got robbed.

The Monarchs have a legitimate gripe when they argue that a timekeeper, unfocused at best and malicious at worst, cost them a victory at Ventura on Tuesday night in a Southern California Regional game.

Valley lost, 74-73, when the man handling the clock fell asleep at the switch, allowing the game to last longer than it should have.

Here’s a brief recap:

With Ventura ahead, 72-71, Maricela Rodriguez gave Valley the lead with a basket off a missed jumper by Porsche McAllister. There were nine seconds to play.

Ventura inbounded the ball and dribbled nearly the length of the court before Amirah Leonard missed a shot and the ball went out of bounds after a scramble. The clock showed eight seconds.

The three officials huddled and ordered the clock reset at six seconds. Coach John Taylor, his assistants and the Valley players contend that time ran out.

They had a good argument, but to no avail.

Valley threw away the inbounds pass, Ventura got possession under its basket and the Monarchs fouled Leonard, who made two free throws with three seconds left.

The Pirates (33-1), top-ranked in California and the two-time defending state champions, advanced to a third-round game against Irvine Valley on Friday at Ventura.

Valley (20-12) felt like the U.S. men’s basketball team at the Munich Olympics.

Did the officials put too much time on the clock? For sure.

It definitely looked like more than three seconds elapsed from the time of Rodriguez’s basket to Leonard’s miss, when the officials settled on the six seconds. Taylor was positive after reviewing a tape.

“[Leonard] dribbled around, dribbled around, fumbled it, shot it, there was a scramble for the loose ball,” he said. “We have timed it several different times. Nine-and-a-half to 10 seconds went off during that time. We’ve timed it with a stopwatch, a second-hand watch and a digital watch.”

Ned Mircetic, Ventura’s coach, was sympathetic after the game and on Wednesday.

“I feel really bad for John,” Mircetic said. “I think he has reason to be upset. I know exactly the anguish he’s going through.”

Not that it alleviates the sting for the Monarchs. They still have questions, such as:

Did the officials glance at the clock after Rodriguez’s shot? What was the timekeeper thinking?

In fact, that wasn’t the first time during the game that the man failed to start the clock immediately after play resumed. It happened at least twice before.

Perhaps the answer is to employ timekeepers for playoff games who are neutral and assigned by the Commission on Athletics, the governing body for junior college sports in California.

Or at least, eliminate one official from the court--two can do the job just fine--and make the third one the timekeeper.

That idea is endorsed by Taylor.

“I think, in the future . . . there should be someone official working the home clock,” he said.

*

Some things, or people, are never forgotten.

At Ventura, where the men’s basketball program was disbanded in November, the buzz Tuesday night during the women’s basketball playoff game was Phil Mathews and the University of San Francisco.

Mathews, who turned Ventura into a men’s powerhouse and is in his third season coaching San Francisco, guided the Dons to an 80-67 victory over Gonzaga on Monday night in the West Coast Conference tournament final.

The Dons earned their first berth in the NCAA tournament since 1982.

Mark Chaney, Ventura’s trainer, said many people at the school watched the game on ESPN.

“Everyone was talking about it,” Chaney said.

Mathews coached Ventura from 1985-95, winning state championships in 1987 and 1995.

*

No one at Ventura officially will say why the school won’t bring back the men’s team for the 1998-99 season, but the word is administrators are upset with the two-year probation handed down by the Western State Conference.

So they chose not to field a team until the probationary period is over, which makes sense.

Why would any coach or player spend two seasons with a team banned from the playoffs?

Staff writer Vince Kowalick contributed to this notes column.