Vaqueros down Barstow 59-49 in Hancock Tourney

Andrea Morales had 16 points and five rebounds on Thursday as SBCC used a fast start and finish to top Barstow 59-49 in the first round of the Lady Bulldog Classic at Hancock College in Santa Maria.

Darla Morales added 13 points, four rebounds and four assists and Sylvia Hoover-Purter scored 10 of her career-high 14 points in the final 12 minutes.

The Vaqueros (3-6) used an 11-0 run to take a 17-6 lead after 6½ minutes. The lead grew to 13 (27-14) on a jumper by Andrea Morales. Andrea Morales scored 11 in the first half and Darla Morales had 10 for the Vaqueros, who hit 48 percent in the opening half and led 31-21.

"We changed our starting lineup to start off pressing and we got an early 11-point lead," said coach Sandrine Krul. "Barstow is very athletic and we were rotating players in every four minutes to sustain our press for the entire game."

SBCC went cold to open the second half and the Vikings (3-8) cut it to three on two occasions with the last coming at 42-39 with five minutes to play. Hoover-Purter made a three-point play, igniting a 10-5 run.

After Barstow pulled within five at 54-49, Purter scored the last five points on three free throws and a jump shot.

Both teams shot 41 percent from the field. The Vaqueros hit 19-26 from the charity stripe while the Vikings were just 4-13.

The Vaqueros will battle WSC North rival Cuesta (8-2) on Friday at 5 p.m. Cuesta beat Lassen 59-54 on Thursday.