The Ventura College women’s basketball Pirates set sail early, rolling off with their fifth win of the season in a 67-43 victory over the El Camino College Warriors on Dec. 3 at the ECC Gym Complex.
Both teams entered the matchup with wins against the College of the Canyons, ECC being (1-7) on the season and Ventura at (4-3).
Pirates coach Cynthia Hernandez, in her second year, said the main focus going into tonight’s game was simple: defense.
“We worked a lot this week on our diving down, our pressure defense and really playing as a team and talking,” Hernandez said.
She said that Ventura made no major adjustments to its game plan, she instead emphasized execution and teamwork: “Before games like this, I like to tell them to work together, stay together and be a unit.”
Ventura controlled the second quarter as ECC went nearly five minutes without a point with repeated missed layups.
The Warriors finally broke through when guard Leah Richards made a 3-pointer for ECC’s first points of the quarter.
“I tell myself to be competitive, do the controllables, especially on defense and hustle and stuff like that,” Richards said.
Even with the Warriors fighting their way back, Ventura pushed back harder with guard Sofia Salgado making a buzzer beating 3-pointer seconds before the half-time buzzer echoed throughout the building, sending Ventura into a 31-18 lead.
Warriors guard Malani Calbert, who has played basketball for more than ten years now, said that although she felt her team could have done better tonight, pulling off a tough win last week, it provided her with momentum for tonight.
“Just to go out there and go crazy this game, like, gave me the confidence to, you know, do what I’m supposed to do,” Calbert said.
The Warriors started strong in the third quarter but were immediately shushed from Ventura’s trio of Salgado, power forward Charnelle Nichols and guard Olivia Decierdo.
Warriors first-year coach Megan Hanson said her team defended well early on but struggled once Ventura’s shooters began to heat up.
“I think some of their girls could have or are like hot and cold shooters and today they were very hot,” Hanson said. “And we’re trying to make adjustments to just be more up in their face and make tougher shots.”
She noted the fouls received on both ends – ECC with nine fouls to Ventura’s four – and said the Warriors are still learning to adapt.
“We’re really focused on just getting that 1% better,” she said.
Hanson includes a “quote of the day,” a “joke of the day” and an “emphasis of the month” with her team to aid her players in improvement, but also staying grounded.
Ventura sealed the night with a final free throw, laving the score at 67-43 and securing the win. Handing the Warriors another tough loss, the Pirates move to (5-3) on the season.
Despite the outcome, Calbert said she keeps a steady mindset no matter the results of the game.
“I tell my other teammates to lock in, that’s like my favorite thing to do it’s kind of like drown out all the noise and literally lock in and I tell myself to stay confident,” Calbert said.
Hanson’s quote of the day for the Warriors was: “Conquering others is power, conquering oneself is strength.”
“We may not have the outcome that we want, but we’ve got to stick together,” Hanson said. “I chose that quote because sometimes we get in the game and we beat ourselves and we’re worried about what they’re gonna do stopping them, that we forget all of our own strengths and we’re not playing our game.”
The Warriors will face the undefeated Copper Mountain Fighting College Cacti College (9-0) Saturday, Dec. 6, in the ECC Gym Complex at 1 p.m.
