Ventura Waltzes Past Hart Into 2nd Round

They came, they saw, they conquered, they scrambled for their formal evening wear.

Ventura High defeated Hart, 41-28, Saturday night in a first-round game of the Southern Section Division I-A playoffs, then immediately traded their pump fakes for pump shoes and hustled out the door toward their school’s annual Senior Ball.

“It’s like this every year,” Coach Glenn Gray II of Ventura said.

“The first round . . . and the ball are always on the same night.”

For a change, however, Ventura players most likely arrived at the ball with smiles. The Cougars had not won a playoff opener since 1994-95.

Ventura (19-10) used a frenzied pace to overwhelm Foothill League champion Hart (15-10) in the first quarter.

The Indians committed 11 of their 32 turnovers against Ventura’s first-quarter pressure defense, enabling the Cougars to dance to a 19-2 lead.

“Can we just play that first quarter over again?” asked Dave Munroe, the Hart coach whose team outscored the Cougars, 26-22, over the final three quarters.

Too late. The damage had been done.

“The press was a real key for us,” said Cougar guard Alex Gientke, who scored eight points. “This year, we just really wanted it.”

What they got won’t exactly be a picnic. On Wednesday, Ventura will host No. 2-seeded Chino Hills Don Lugo and Diana Taurasi, considered one of the best juniors in the nation.

Taurasi scored 30 points Saturday in a 63-54 victory over Villa Park.

“We’re ready,” said Gientke, an All-Ventura County selection last season as a sophomore. “Bring it on.”

Ventura has been no stranger to powerhouse opponents. Its 1998-99 schedule reads like a Who’s Who in Southland basketball.

Of the Cougars’ 10 losses, three have come to Buena and two to Chino Hills Ayala, both Division I powerhouses, and once each to state Division II champion Brea Olinda, state Division III runner-up Alemany, Northern California power Archbishop Mitty, and Cerritos and Santa Barbara, two strong Division I programs.

It was a balanced offense that did the trick against the Indians.

Rene Jimenez scored 13 points, including four three-point baskets. Kristine Gleisberg had eight points and nine rebounds and Liz Newman, Estelle Diaz and Aliza Richman each scored four points.

Ventura made only 22% of its shots (15 of 67), but took 32 more shots than the Indians, who were outrebounded, 34-25.

Hart made nine of 35 shots (26%).

“The ball just wouldn’t go in for us tonight,” said senior forward Briana Kentfield of Hart, who scored 10 points.

Tiana Jameson scored eight points and Christina Sanchez added six for Hart.