Sara Crane scored 14 of her 20 points in the second half Thursday night and SBCC used relentless pressure to rout Santa Ana 70-46 in the opener of its MTXE women’s basketball tournament at the Sports Pavilion.
The Vaqueros (2-1) jumped out to an early 9-1 lead and stretched it to 22-10 on a driving layup by Crane. The 5-11 freshman from Dos Pueblos High had a season-high eight rebounds, three steals and two blocks.
“We had our intensity up and we really executed,” said Crane. “We played really well and executed what we practiced. We listened to our coaches and stayed disciplined.”
The Vaqueros outshot the Dons 38 to 23 percent in the first half while building a 35-23 lead. Interestingly, that was also the exact score of the second half.
After Santa Ana scored the first second-half bucket, the Vaqueros went on a 20-1 run, fueled by 10 points from Crane. They used their press to make five steals and turned most of those into points.
Keia Nobles (4 points, 6 rebounds) made a steal and layup, boosting the lead to 55-26 with just under 15 minutes to play.
Jennifer Jimenez had 10 points and five rebounds and Mercedes Gonzalez added eight points and seven boards. The Vaqueros won the board battle 48-33.
Leslie Steele chipped in with eight points and Jaz Johnson had seven assists.
“We’re getting better and we played a lot harder than we did in our first two games,” said coach Sandrine Krul. “Sara does a great job of driving to the basket and she’s a really good passer. She’s so smart with her decisions.
“We were down three players today and I was so happy with our team effort. That’s what I love to see.”
In other games, Solano beat Riverside 68-61, Grossmont edged Cerritos 56-53 and San Bernardino Valley, ranked No. 6 in the state, took care of San Diego Mesa 74-37.
SBCC will take on San Bernardino on Friday at 7 p.m. in the championship semifinals. Solano and Grossmont will clash in the first championship semi at 5 p.m.
Riverside and Cerritos will clash in the 1 p.m. game on Friday, followed by San Diego Mesa and Santa Ana at 3 p.m.
