Sophomore Imelda Bealer scored all 15 of her points in the first half on Thursday, leading SBCC to a 63-44 women’s basketball triumph over San Diego Mesa in the first round of the MTXE Tournament at the Sports Pavilion.
The Vaqueros (3-2) had a season-high 20 steals, led by Janelle Wong with five and Bealer with four.
Santa Barbara took a 24-15 lead on two free throws and a 3-pointer by Bealer with 4:43 to go in the opening half. SBCC scored seven points in the last 26.5 seconds to extend the margin to 31-20 at the half. Bealer hit two free throws, Janelle Wong swished a trey with 4.3 seconds showing, then Bealer stole the in-bound pass and made an unlikely bank shot back over her head to beat the buzzer.
“We started strong, we stayed strong and we ended strong,” said Bealer, a 5-foot-6 guard from Fairfax High who finished with 15 points, 12 rebounds, five assists and four steals. “We all have each other’s back. The key to making steals is reading your opponent and playing the lanes.”
Wong had 11 points, including a trio of 3-pointers, and seven rebounds with six at the offensive end. Mercedes Gonzalez had seven rebounds off the bench and Brooke Amenta contributed six points, six rebounds and three steals.
In other first-round games, Riverside beat Grossmont 75-63, San Bernardino Valley walloped Santa Ana 108-41 and Orange Coast rallied from a 12-point second-half deficit to edge Solano 77-76 on Jessica Vingerelli’s follow shot with 4.6 seconds left.
SBCC will take on Orange Coast at 7 p.m. in the championship semifinals. At 5 o’clock, Riverside will meet San Bernardino Valley, the No. 5-ranked team in Southern California. The consolation semifinals feature Grossmont and Santa Ana at 1 p.m., followed by Solano and San Diego Mesa at 3 p.m.
The Vaqueros outrebounded the Olympians 33-18 in the first half and actually had more offensive rebounds (19) than the visitors‘ total. The final rebound tally was 54-38 in SBCC’s favor.
“I have two words for you — balanced scoring,” said coach Sandrine Krul. “When we get balanced scoring, we win. Our goal is to hold teams under 50 points.
“That’s a strong team we beat with a 6-4 center … I like coaching this team because they really care about each other. That’s going to take us a long way.”
While Mesa struggled from the free-throw line (11-24, 45.8 percent), SBCC was nearly perfect at 16-for-18 (88.9 percent). Bealer hit 4-5 and Lyndsay Bergus and Jennifer Thompson were both 4-4.
2010 MTXE TOURNAMENT
At SBCC Sports Pavilion
Thursday, Nov. 18
First round
1 p.m. — Riverside 75, Grossmont 63
3 p.m. — San Bernardino Valley 108, Santa Ana 41
5 p.m. — Orange Coast 77, Solano 76
7 p.m. — SBCC 63, San Diego Mesa 44Friday, Nov. 19
1 p.m. — Consolation semifinal: Grossmont vs. Santa Ana
3 p.m. — Consolation semifinal: Solano vs. San Diego Mesa
5 p.m. — Championship semifinal: Riverside vs. San Bernardino Valley
7 p.m. — Championship semifinal: SBCC vs. Orange CoastSaturday, Nov. 20
11 a.m. — Consolation final
1 p.m. — Third-place game
3 p.m. — Championship
