Brooke Amenta tallied a season-high 21 points and Janelle Wong found her shooting touch on Friday night as SBCC beat Orange Coast 73-56 to move into the championship game of their own MTXE Women’s Basketball Tournament.
Wong scored 17 points with seven rebounds and three steals for the Vaqueros, who won their third straight to improve to 4-2. The former Dos Pueblos High standout knocked down 5-10 from 3-point land and helped her team build an early 11-5 lead with back-to-back triples.
The Vaqueros will take on high-scoring San Bernardino Valley in the championship on Saturday at 3 p.m. The Wolverines (4-1), ranked No. 5 in Southern Cal, topped Riverside 94-73 after scoring 108 in their first-round win.
In other games, Grossmont beat Santa Ana 68-55 and Solano edged San Diego Mesa 58-52. Grossmont and Solano will square off in the consolation final at 11 a.m. Saturday, followed by the third-place game at 1 p.m. between Riverside and Orange Coast.
Santa Barbara ended the first half on a 6-0 run and took a 35-26 lead into the locker room after a steal and layup by Brooke Berry. The Vaqueros remained hot to open the second half, outscoring the Pirates 11-4 to complete a 17-4 run in just under seven minutes.
Wong hit a 3-pointer, then stole the ball and Berry lobbed it to Leigh Cullinan for a layup and a 46-30 advantage with 15:16 to play.
Amenta, a 5-10 freshman from El Camino Real in Woodland Hills, came off the bench to hit 6-of-8 from the field and 9-10 from the charity stripe. She also had five rebounds.
“I just played hard and played with MTXE (Mental Toughness, Extra Effort),” said Amenta. “We played really well. This was a good win. I’m ready for San Bernardino Valley.”
Imelda Bealer had 10 points, five rebounds and five assists while Cullinan led the Vaqueros in rebounds with 10, including six offensive.
SBCC hit 48 percent from the field (24-50) and converted 8-23 from long range. Samantha Hansen had 14 for Orange Coast, which missed all 12 of its 3-point tries.
Wong hit two straight treys in the second half, banking the second one in for a 61-44 lead with 8:50 to play.
“We played 13 of 14 players and we had great balance,” said coach Sandrine Krul. “Our shooters shot the ball well tonight. We’re still making some interesting errors but the nice thing is, we’re showing confidence in each other.
“We’ll have a test on Saturday but you want to play the best teams in the non-conference season.”
