After another miserable 3-point effort in the first half Tuesday, Coach Sandrine Krul told her SBCC women’s basketball team to forget about long-range shots. The Vaqueros, who trailed 43-38 at intermission, proceeded to outscore Sequoias by 19 in the second half of an 83-69 victory in the third-place game at the Foothill Holiday Classic in Los Altos.
Santa Barbara took the lead at 63-62 and outscored the Giants 20-7 over the final nine minutes. SBCC won four of its last five to complete nonconference with a 14-8 record.
“I told them if they shoot a 3 in the second half, they’ll be on the bench,” said Krul, whose team was 0-8 on 3-pointers in the first half and 0-0 in the second half. “We wanted to pound it inside.”
Center Nikki Graham collected 18 points and 14 rebounds to earn all-tournament honors. Josie Piercey had 17 points, Katie Randall and Francesca DeAngelis 13 and Bailey Huff contributed 10.
“High-percentage shots is our motto for conference,” Krul stated.
The Vaqueros open their 12-game WSC North slate on Jan. 7 with a 7 p.m. home game against Oxnard.
