Vaqueros rally past Hancock 59-52

SBCC used a stellar second half to down Hancock 59-52 on Saturday night in a WSC North women's basketball game in Santa Maria.

The Vaqueros (6-14, 1-4) erased Hancock's 33-26 halftime edge by opening the second half on a 22-11 run. Two free throws by Darla Morales put Santa Barbara ahead to stay at 46-44 with 3:53 remaining.

Morales, a 5-7 sophomore guard from Oxnard, scored 11 of her game-high 20 points in the second half. She missed her career high by a point and also had four rebounds and five steals. Morales hit 6-8 from the field and 7-12 from the free-throw line.

Her twin sister, Andrea Morales, came within one rebound of her first double-double with 12 points and nine boards. Andrea, who leads the team with 6.1 rebounds per game, has had five games with nine rebounds and three more with eight.

The Vaqueros only committed one turnover in the second half and tied their season low with seven for the game. The Bulldogs (9-12, 1-4) had 15 of their 26 turnovers in the second half. SBCC won the second half 33-19.

Santa Barbara outshot Hancock 37 to 26.3 percent in the second half but was outshot for the game, 43.2 to 36.4 percent. The Bulldogs shot 61.1 percent in the opening half.

"We played very, very well in the second half," said coach Sandrine Krul. "That was our best second half of the year. I only rotated seven in the game and we got our running game going."

SBCC's lead grew to eight points (54-46) when Stella Dulay hit two free throws to cap a 13-2 run with 2:26 to play. The Bulldogs got within three, 55-52, with 32 ticks left before Sylvia Hoover-Purter hit 3 of 4 free throws to seal the win.

Hoover-Purter scored seven of her nine points in the final 17 minutes.

The Vaqueros will host L.A. Pierce on Wednesday at 7 p.m.