Mhiah Vickers grabbed an offensive rebound and scored a layup with 2.6 seconds left on Saturday night as No. 19 SBCC rallied to upset No. 14 Cypress 48-46 in the semifinals of the Antelope Valley Women’s Basketball Holiday Tournament in Lancaster.
Vickers had 15 points and six rebounds in the fifth straight win by the Vaqueros, whose 12-3 record is the best start in coach Sandrine Krul‘s nine years as head coach. SBCC trailed 28-20 in the first half before going on a 9-0 run, capped by a basket from Vickers. The teams were tied 29-29 at intermission.
Brooke Amenta had 10 points and eight rebounds for Santa Barbara and Keia Nobles grabbed nine boards. Sara Crane had six rebounds and three steals and Stefanie Salinas had six first-half points on a pair of 3-pointers.
The Vaquero bench outscored their counterparts 30-11. Cypress, which shot just 30 percent and made only 1-12 on 3-pointers, fell to 7-4.
The Vaqueros only made 29 percent (21-73) but got 19 more attempts. Cypress outscored the Vaqueros at the foul line 13-2 and attempted 16 more free throws. The Vaqueros were 2-8 from the charity stripe.
SBCC took a 42-37 lead on two straight baskets by Vickers with 9:52 to play. The score was tied 46-46 with two minutes to play. Cypress missed a 3-point try with 16.5 seconds left and the Vaqueros called timeout with 0:07 on the clock. Vickers rebounded her own missed layup and converted the game-winner.
“We had a great defensive effort,” said assistant coach Mercedes Gonzalez. “We didn’t shoot well but we had a couple of good runs at key times.”
SBCC will take on No. 5 Foothill for the championship on Sunday at 5 p.m. The Vaqueros lost to Foothill 67-59 on Dec. 1 in the semifinals of the 16-team Sequoias Tournament.
Foothill beat SBCC’s WSC North rival Moorpark 64-55 on Saturday.
Here is the video of Mhiah’s winning baskiet.