Sandrine Krul might be at risk for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder after this one.
She’s the only Western State Conference women’s basketball coach to have beaten Ventura since 1996 (when her players were learning to spell), and she had another win over the Pirates in her grasp Wednesday night at the Sports Pavilion.
Her Vaqueros (18-9, 4-1) had battled back from a 14-point second-half deficit and were up by three against the state’s top-ranked team with 18 seconds to play, but Ventura center Julie Heurung nailed a 3-pointer to tie it up with nine ticks left and SBCC went on to lose in overtime, 84-81.
“We wanted this one so bad you don’t even know,” said Vaquero forward Nikki Graham, who finished with a team-high 16 points. “This is the game we practice for. This is the game our entire season revolves around.”
Pirates coach Ned Mircetic said that SBCC was “by far” the greatest challenge his team has faced all year.
“We were lucky to come out with an overtime win. We had our center make a three to send it into overtime, and our shooters were missing all their shots,” he said. “They’re an outstanding team, well coached and disciplined.”
But the longtime coach also said that he doesn’t consider SBCC to be Ventura’s biggest rival.
“You gotta believe me when I tell you this. I treat every game as a really big game… I try not to get the kids going up and down. Every game is a big game,” he said. “It’s a rivalry, but every league game is a rivalry.”
Krul disagreed.
“He always says that… I think it’s a rivalry and I will continue to say it’s a rivalry, because we want to play the best and they’re the best on paper,” she said.
The Pirates (23-0, 5-0) had the early lead in a back-and-forth first half until Jen Ju hit a pair of free throws to put SBCC up 21-20 with 10:34 left in the period. Ventura went into the break with a 40-35 advantage.
Kris King hit a turnaround jumper to give the visitors their biggest lead at 50-36 early in the second half, but the Vaqueros responded with a 20-5 run in which Graham scored 11.
SBCC took the lead on a Graham lay-up at the nine-minute mark, and the game see-sawed for the rest of the way. Imelda Bealer grabbed an offensive rebound for a put-back to grow the Vaquero lead to 69-65 with 2:50 left, but Heurung was there with the big shot when the Pirates needed it.
Ventura had the upper-hand throughout the overtime, and Lauren Wells’ last-second trey wouldn’t fall for Santa Barbara.
“You could not tell who the No. 1 team in the state was, and I’m so proud of our team because they buy into the philosophy,” said Krul. “I want them to feel what it’s like to win a big game like this. They deserve it.”
So she and her Vaqueros will have to re-focus on the big picture until the next time Ventura comes up on Valentine’s Day.
It’s not likely to be a love-laden matchup.
