Imelda Bealer and Brooke Berry combined for 30 points, 18 rebounds and 12 steals on Wednesday night as SBCC opened the Southern Cal Regional women’s basketball playoffs with a 77-59 victory over L.A. Trade Tech.
Bealer scored 15 of her game-high 17 points in the second half. The 5-6 sophomore guard hit 6-9 from the field and had six rebounds, four assists and four steals.
Berry, a 5-2 sophomore, nearly had a triple-double with 13 points, 12 rebounds and eight steals.
The Vaqueros (21-10) won their fourth straight game and earned a second-round date at No. 2 seed San Bernardino Valley on Saturday at 7 p.m. The Wolverines beat the Vaqueros 80-56 on Nov. 20 in the championship of SBCC’s MTXE Tournament.
Berry tied her career high in rebounds on a night when the Vaqueros won the board battle 52-37. SBCC had a whopping 25 offensive rebounds, led by Berry with six. Her eight steals are a new career best.
Berry picked up her fourth foul with 17:51 to play and her team leading 42-31.
“I had Brooke’s back,“ said Bealer, who was named first-team All-WSC North earlier in the week. “She had four fouls and I had to step it up as a sophomore. It‘s like we‘re competing for steals — when she gets one, I have to get one.”
Berry sat out for 6½ minutes and shortly after she returned, SBCC went on a 16-7 run to take extend the margin to 64-47. Bealer started the run with a 3-pointer and had six points in the outburst as did Lyndsay Bergus.
Jennifer Jimenez had 12 points and six rebounds for the Vaqueros, who played without guard Nanice Kollee (flu), the No. 3 scorer at 9.4 points. Mercedes Gonzalez had eight rebounds off the bench.
Janelle Wong hit 3-of-5 from downtown and scored 12 of her 14 points in the first half as the 15th-seeded Vaqueros built a 38-28 lead. Berry’s 12-foot jumper ignited a 12-0 run that boosted the lead to 33-20 with 3:50 left in the opening half.
“We’re getting back to the way we played in November and December,” said coach Sandrine Krul. “We had a few people who were sick tonight and everyone played hard. We just need to tighten up our defense on the drives.”
