San Bernardino Valley built an early 15-2 lead on Friday night and went on to beat SBCC 79-52 in the semifinals of the MTXE women’s basketball tournament at the Sports Pavilion.
April Fultz led the sixth-ranked Wolverines (4-1) with 18 points and 6-2 Darshay Burnside had 13. Katie Grande led the Vaqueros (2-2) with 12 points off the bench. Leslie Steele had nine points and four assists and Keia Nobles added seven points and five boards.
SBCC trailed 37-20 at the half. The Vaqueros were outshot 43 to 29 percent and outrebounded 40-23 by the defending tournament champs.
“This game is going to help us grow up,” said coach Sandrine Krul. “When you have a game plan and don’t stick to it, this is what happens. But I’m proud of our effort and nobody gave up. You’re not going to win games when the other team gets 30 points on free throws.”
Krul’s team commited 15 of its 26 fouls in the second half. SBVC made 30-35 free throws in the contest while the Vaqueros were 18-30.
Solano downed Grossmont 68-54 in the other championship semifinal to move into Saturday’s final against San Bernardino Valley at 3 p.m.
In the consolation semifinals, Cerritos topped Riverside 84-61 and San Diego Mesa beat Santa Ana 63-45.
The Vaqueros will play for third place at 1 p.m. on Saturday, following the consolation final between Cerritos and San Diego Mesa at 11 a.m.
