Vaqueros scorch nets for 63.6% in second half of 77-67 comeback win

SBCC put on a red-hot second-half shooting display on Wednesday night to rally past Hancock 77-67 in a WSC North game at the Sports Pavilion.

It was a night of firsts for the Vaqueros (13-6, 1-3) -- their first win in 2020, their first WSC North win and their first home game in 10 weeks.

Hancock (12-12, 2-2) won the second quarter 21-8 to take a 32-24 halftime lead. Jayci Bayne topped the Bulldogs with 20 points and eight rebounds.

The Vaqueros hit 66.7% in the third quarter (10-15) and 61.1% in the fourth (11-18) as they outscored the Bulldogs 53-35 in the last 20 minutes. SBCC knocked down 7-11 on 3-pointers in the second half.

Sophomore point guard Alondra Jimenez led the charge with 26 points and seven assists. She shot 10-20 from the field and 6-11 from long range. Sophia Torres, her former teammate at Santa Barbara High, added 17 points and 12 rebounds.

The Vaqueros took 49-43 lead on a triple by Jordan Parkhurst late in the third period but Hancock ended on a 6-0 run to tie it at 49 heading into the fourth quarter.

Santa Barbara took control with a 15-3 run to open the third, expanding the lead to 64-52 on back-to-back 3-pointers by Jimenez and Jada Forsdick-Stevenson.

"We finally got our defensive intensity going which fuels our offensive freedom," said Vaquero coach Sandrine Krul. "Hancock is a very good team because they are so disciplined and they run a lot of sets. We worked hard for two days in practice to rep those sets."

Krul gave an assist for the comeback to SBCC men's coach Morris Hodges.

"We were down and we went to our zone defense called blue," she noted. "Morris Hodges taught my team a few weeks back and that made the biggest difference. That changed the entire pace of the game to get our defensive stops which led to our transition buckets."

Forsdick-Stevenson hit 3-8 from downtown and scored 13 points. She also had seven rebounds, three steals and two assists as the Vaqueros won the board battle, 44-33.

After a bye on Saturday, SBCC will open the second round of WSC play by hosting Ventura on Wednesday at 5 p.m.