No. 1 Moorpark uses fast start and finish to down Vaqueros

Top-ranked Moorpark scored 28-plus points in three of four quarters on Wednesday night in a 97-68 women's basketball win over visiting SBCC.

The Raiders (25-1, 7-0) won their ninth straight game. The Vaqueros fell to 14-10 and 2-5 in the WSC North.

Moorpark outscored the Vaqueros 57-32 in the first and fourth quarters.

Moorpark opened a 12-2 lead in the first four minutes and led 29-17 after one quarter. After trailing 40-30 at halftime, the Vaqueros went on a 10-4 run to pull within four at 44-40. Meagan Moore hit a jumper and Jada Forsdick-Stevenson capped the rally with a 3-pointer.

"Our goal was to play hard and we played hard and together," said coach Sandrine Krul. "Everyone was contributing. If we just took care of the ball in two key possessions, they don't go on a 6-0 run.

"I'm very proud of every one of our players for playing so hard."

The Raiders responded with an 18-5 burst to stretch the lead to 17 points (62-45) with 3:33 to go in the third quarter.

Aaliyah Pauling paced the Vaqueros with 17 points, five rebounds and five assists. Moore added 10 points and four rebounds. Forsdick-Stevenson hit 3-5 from long distance and scored nine points. Sierra Cavaletto contributed nine points and eight rebounds in 23 minutes off the bench.

Barbara Rangel, a 6-2 center, topped the Raiders with 24 points and 17 rebounds, including nine offensive. All five starters scored between 16 and 24 points.

The Vaqueros outrebounded the Raiders 41-37 but made 25 turnovers that led to 39 points. Moorpark only had 10 turnovers.

The Raiders shot 51.2% in the second half and canned 9-14 from 3-point range. The Vaqueros weren't far behind, shooting 46.7% in the last 20 minutes and making 6-14 from downtown.

The Vaqueros will play their next two at home – Saturday vs. Cuesta and Tuesday vs. Hancock with tip-off for both games at 7 p.m.