Vaqueros Edge Pierce Thanks to Clutch Shooting, Second Half Energy

SANTA BARBARA, CA – The Santa Barbara City College Women's Basketball team beat LA Pierce at home Wednesday night, 62-58, improving to 2-1 in conference play.

"Another great team win," head coach Sandrine Krul said. "I'm so happy [the players] are buying into the team concept."

In a game that was incredibly competitive, the largest margin of "victory" for any quarter was 3, when SBCC outscored Pierce 13-10 in the fourth quarter.

Naturally, the first quarter was close, and both teams came out hot to a high-scoring 20-18 first quarter, with SBCC leading. The second quarter was more of the same, with SBCC's biggest lead being just 5 points. Pierce tied the score at 31 with two and a half minutes left in the half, and the teams traded buckets, literally, until halftime. After 31-31, the scoring went SBCC 2, Pierce 2, SBCC 2, Pierce 2, SBCC 2, Pierce 2, to end 37-37.

Leila Chisholm scored 12 first half points, but the Vaqueros were being considerably outrebounded, 25-16 to that point. In the locker room, Assistant Coach Joe'Randle Toliver challenged the Vaqueros players to get more rebounds, particularly Paityn Persson and SBCC's guards.

That challenge worked, as the Vaqueros grabbed 15 rebounds in the third quarter alone, nearly matching their first half total. The vigor for attacking the glass allowed them to grab 6 offensive rebounds, leading to a crucial 5 second chance points. At the end of three quarters of play, SBCC held a 1-point lead at 49-48.

Three minutes into the fourth quarter, Pierce made a layup and had their first lead of the night, 50-49. Leila Chisholm made a layup one minute later to ensure that was Pierce's only lead of the night, as the Vaqueros would never look back from there.

Clutch shooting iced the game, as Eva Carrejo nailed a three, assisted by Leila Chisholm to make the score 56-51 with five minutes remaining. After a Kiani Rojas layup via a Paityn Persson assist, Jaden Bone assisted a Chisholm three to increase the lead to 61-53 with just over a minute remaining. That was all the Vaqueros would need, putting the bow on an important 62-58 conference win.

Paityn Persson had another double-double, and was just 3 blocks shy of another triple-double (January 5 against MiraCosta). Her final line was 12 points, 10 rebounds, and 7 blocks—the 7 blocks are a season high.

Leila Chisholm was phenomenal, as well, with 17 points, 6 assists, 5 rebounds, and 3 steals. All categories besides rebounds led the team. Jaden Bone led the bench with 7 points and 4 rebounds. Guard Kiani Rojas grabbed 7 rebounds, a season high, further emphasizing the impact of Toliver's halftime words. All five Vaqueros starters ended with 5 or more boards.

Furthermore, the Vaqueros limited turnovers, which did not allow Pierce to go on any debilitating runs or steal momentum. The 13 turnovers are 1 more than the season low, done twice in back-to-back games in December (Riverside and Santa Ana). The Vaqueros are 5-3 when they commit 16 turnovers or less, and 3-8 when they turn the ball over 17 times or more.

The Vaqueros hope to keep their winning conference record intact, playing next at Ventura on Wednesday at 7:00 PM.