San Bernardino Valley held SBCC to a single field goal in the first half of Saturday night’s MTXE women’s basketball final and went on to post a 65-34 victory in the Sports Pavilion.
It was the second time the Wolverines (5-1) have won the Vaqueros’ tournament in the last three years.
San Bernardino, ranked No. 5 in the state, closed the first half on a 21-3 run and took a 29-10 lead into the locker room. The Vaqueros (4-1) hit just 1 of 17 shots and turned the ball over 16 times in the first 20 minutes.
The Wolverines shot 55 percent (27-49) for the game compared to 16 percent for the home team (8-50).
Santa Barbara didn’t get its second field goal until Michelle Herrera hit a 3-pointer at the top of the key, cutting the deficit to 33-16 with 17:21 to go in the game.
“We were working our game plan for the first six minutes,” said coach Sandrine Krul. “We knew they were a running team, so we wanted to slow them down. We were running our defense but we got so frustrated on offense that we couldn’t be productive.
“This is a good lesson. This was our first time in a championship game and our first loss. The results will be different the next time we play for a championship.”
Brooke Amenta had 13 points, six rebounds and three steals. She averaged 17.6 points in the three-day tourney and earned all-tournament honors along with Keia Nobles.
Nobles had four rebounds and five steals for the Vaqueros, who got within 17 (45-28) on back-to-back triples by Herrera and Mhiah Vickers with 9:40 to play. Herrera added seven points and three steals.
Santa Ana downed Riverside 60-54 for third place and Solano won the consolation title with a 71-60 decision over Grossmont.
Sophomore forward Latice Butler was the tourney MVP. She was joined on the all-tournament team by San Bernardino teammates Brittany Brown and Neika Puryear; Berlin Ohanesian of Santa Ana; Neka Hunter of Riverside and Taylor Hamilton of Solano
