Brooke Amenta scored 18 of her career-high 26 points in the second half on Friday night and SBCC held on for a 75-70 women’s basketball win over Riverside in the semifinals of the Vaqueros’ MTXE Tournament.
Santa Barbara (4-0) used a 22-5 run at the end of the first half and start of the second and took an 18-point lead (44-26) on a 15-foot baseline jumper by Sharar Ali-Clarke with 13:12 remaining.
The Vaqueros still led by 15 (55-40) with 7:27 to play before the Tigers (2-2) started chipping away. Riverside got within six (67-61) with 1:18 to play on a follow shot by Christine Pascua. Amenta responded by hitting an 8-footer in the lane.
When Riverside got within five with 37.6 seconds left, Amenta sank two technical free throws and Keia Nobles followed with a layup on the press break to boost the lead back to nine at 74-65.
Amenta, a 5-11 forward, also had a team-high 11 rebounds. She hit 8-15 from the field and all 10 of her free throws. The Vaqueros made 29 of 44 foul shots compared to 18-20 for Riverside.
“They started pressing us and we started freaking out a little,” said Amenta. “We should have kept ourselves composed. Simple passing would have gotten us by the press.
“We boxed out really well tonight and held their bodies. That let to putbacks on the offensive end.”
Sara Crane scored 12 of her 14 points in the second half and had a solid all-around game with seven rebounds, four assists and four steals. Keia Nobles added 14 points and six rebounds.
“We’ve had someone different step up in every game,” said coach Sandrine Krul. “Tonight, it was Brooke Amenta in the post, the night before it was our bench and the game before that, it was Mhiah (Vickers).
“It’s like I love to say, ‘14 for 40’ (14 players going hard for 40 minutes) and it really works.”
Riverside outshot the Vaqueros 46 to 41 percent and neither team made a 3-point bucket in a combined seven attempts.
SBCC will take on No. 5 San Bernardino Valley (4-1) for the championship at 5 p.m. on Saturday. San Bernardino routed Santa Ana 75-55 on Saturday.
“We match up well with San Bernardino,” said Krul, whose team is seeking its first MTXE title. “We just have to execute and play great defense.”
Riverside and Santa Ana will battle for third place at 3 p.m.
In the consolation semifinals, Grossmont beat Cerritos 61-42 and Solano downed San Diego Mesa 59-50. Grossmont and Solano will square off for the consolation crown at 1 p.m. on Saturday.
