Adrianne Sloboh had 27 pts and 19 rebs, and Lisa Marie Sanchez scored 22 pts as #1-seeded Ventura won its 20th straight game and its 7th state championship in school history with a 68-55 victory over #2-seed Mt. San Antonio Sunday afternoon at Cerritos College.
Ventura (32-3) jumped out to a 22-4 lead in the first half thanks to its defense, as Mt. San Antonio (29-5) missed 23 of its first 25 shot attempts from the floor. Mt. SAC finally started making some shots and rallied to within 11 points several times, but never really threatened to challenge Ventura.
And a big reason Ventura held its lead was its free throw shooting. Sanchez earned MVP honors for the tournament with her performance of 22 pts, 6 rebs, 5 asts and 3 steals, and that included a stellar 15-for-18 on free throws. Sloboh was 11-for-14 from the line, SF Cynthia Hernandez was 3-for-3 and Ctr Brooke Dixon was 4-for-5 as Ventura made 80.5% of its free throws and scored nearly half of its points from the line.
Sloboh was particularly productive in the first half, taking advantage of all those Mt. SAC misfires and grabbing 13 rebounds before halftime. Her full-game total of 19 rebounds rivalled her remarkable 23-rebound performance in the semifinal win vs. Fresno on Thursday night. She joined Sanchez on the all-tournament team.
Mt. SAC finally ended its drought when PG Shaela Flynn scored on a runner with just under 4 minutes left in the first half, and that started a 7-0 run that cut the deficit to 11 points at 22-11. But Mt. SAC never got any closer. The last time Mt. SAC got within 11 points was at 38-27 with just under 12 minutes left in the second half, and two made jumpers by Sloboh right after that kept Ventura in control. A step-back jumper by Dixon with 3:30 left pushed the lead to 20 points at 60-40 and started the Ventura celebration.
Flynn led Mt. SAC, which entered the game with a 17-game win streak, with 14 pts and added 5 asts and 4 steals to earn a berth on the all-tournament team. SF Sashanique Youngblood also scored in double digits with 13 pts and a team-high 8 rebs. But everyone else on Mt. SAC combined to make just 11 of 50 field goal attempts (22%) on the afternoon.
The championship is the 7th for the Ventura women's program, all since 1996 and all under the guidance of head coach Ned Mircetic. It has been quite a season for Mircetic, who also became the first women's coach to reach the 700-win mark earlier this season.
box score
Sunday, March 16, 2014 - 1 pm
at Cerritos College, Norwalk
State Championship Game - Women
Mt. San Antonio 55:
3-Shaela Flynn, PG - 5/13 fg, 4/7 ft, 2 reb, 5 ast, 4 stl, 4 pf, 14 pts
14-Sashanique Youngblood, SF - 5/11 fg, 2/3 ft, 8 reb, 2 ast, 1 stl, 4 pf, 13 pts
22-Tatyana Calhoun, SG - 1/1 fg, 2/2 ft, 3 reb, 1 ast, 1 stl, 3 pf, 4 pts
23-Cheyanne Wayne-King, C - 2/6 fg, 2/2 ft, 5 reb, 1 ast, 3 stl, 6 pts
33-Lashanique Youngblood, PF - 1/4 fg, 2 reb, 1 blk, 1 stl, 4 pf, 2 pts
11-Tahniya Sweatt, G - 1/10 fg, 5 reb, 1 ast, 2 stl, 3 pf, 2 pts
32-Amber Herrly, G - 0/3 fg, 2 pf, 0 pts
42-Johnea Thompson, C - 2/5 fg, 1/2 ft, 6 reb, 3 pf, 5 pts
24-Sabrina Norton, F - 2/7 fg, 2 reb, 3 pf, 4 pts
35-Joi Mitchell, F - 1/2 fg, 1/2 ft, 2 reb, 3 pts
21-Bree Makai, G - 1/1 fg, 1 pf, 2 pts
10-Makalia Nash, G - 1 stl, 0 pts
31-Vanessa Anaya, F - 0/1 fg, 0 pts
team rebounds: 4
Totals: 21/64 fg (.328), 12/18 ft (.667), 39 reb, 10 ast, 1 blk, 13 stl, 27 pf, 55 pts
3-pt fg (1): S.Youngblood
Turnovers (18): S.Youngblood 5, Flynn 4, Calhoun 3, Sweatt 2, Wayne-King, Herrly, Thompson, Mitchell
Ventura 68:
3-Dre Vega, SG - 0/3 fg, 0/1 ft, 4 reb, 1 ast, 4 pf, 0 pts
10-Lisa Marie Sanchez, PG - 3/10 fg, 15/18 ft, 6 reb, 5 ast, 3 stl, 2 pf, 22 pts
11-Adrianne Sloboh, PF - 8/13 fg, 11/14 ft, 19 reb, 1 ast, 3 stl, 3 pf, 27 pts
20-Cynthia Hernandez, SF - 1/6 fg, 3/3 ft, 2 reb, 2 ast, 1 stl, 2 pf, 5 pts
44-Brooke Dixon, C - 5/14 fg, 4/5 ft, 6 reb, 2 blk, 1 stl, 2 pf, 14 pts
14-Makayla Morrison, F - 0/3 fg, 1 reb, 1 pf, 0 pts
23-Micaela Pericone-Kapp, G - 0/2 fg, 0 pts
21-Madison O'Donnell, F - 1 reb, 1 pf, 0 pts
2-Lexi Hinojosa, G - 1 pf, 0 pts
12-Marissa Hurtado, F - 0 pts
40-Sandra Ortiz, C - 0 pts
31-Joi Moten, F - 0 pts
team rebounds: 7
Totals: 17/51 fg (.333), 33/41 ft (.805), 46 reb, 9 ast, 2 blk, 8 stl, 16 pf, 68 pts
3-pt fg (1): Sanchez
Turnovers (19): Sanchez 7, Sloboh 4, Hernandez 4, Dixon 2, Vega, team
Halftime Score: Ventura 26, Mt. San Antonio 13
Updated Records: Ventura (#1-seed) 32-3, Mt. San Antonio (#2-seed) 29-5
Ventura jumped out to a 22-4 lead as Mt. SAC missed 23 of its first 25 shots.
Ventura led by at least 11 points the rest of the way.
This is Ventura's 20th straight win. Mt. SAC entered with a 17-game win streak.
This is Ventura's and coach Ned Mircetic's 7th state championship.
All-Tournament team included Sanchez (MVP) & Sloboh from Ventura and Flynn from Mt. SAC
