Brackett gets season-high 17 in 80-69 triumph

Nalei'a Brackett erupted for a season-high 17 points and Destinee King and Kesler Johnson scored 18 apiece on Saturday night, guiding SBCC to an 80-69 victory over Hancock in a WSC North game at the Sports Pavilion.

Brackett, a 5-6 freshman from San Diego, came off the bench and hit 4-6 from 3-point land. She came in averaging 3.2 points and her previous high was seven. She racked up 17 points and four rebounds in 22 minutes.

King missed a double-double by one rebound with 18 points, nine boards and six blocks. Johnson also had nine rebounds as the Vaqueros (13-10, 4-3) dominated the boards 51-34.

Jocelin Petatan added six points, nine rebounds, five steals and four assists for Santa Barbara, which shot 50 percent from beyond the 3-point line (8-16).

"We knew it would come down to 50-50 balls and who was going to get stops when the other team went on a run," said coach Sandrine Krul. "I'm very excited that our team stayed true to the game plan and just kept playing hard and diving on all those loose balls.

"It was nice for our subs to come in and keep the tempo going. Nalei'a and Hannah Rogers played with great effort and composure."

The Vaqueros took a 20-12 first-quarter lead, then Hancock pulled within one (40-39) at the half. The visitors went ahead by a point (58-57) with 1:30 to go in the third quarter before SBCC went on an 8-0 run with Rogers scoring six points. Rogers, a former Bishop Diego High standout, had eight points and a season-high eight rebounds.

"I'm super proud of our team because when we make the choice to give maximum effort, we do really well," Krul stated.

After a bye on Wednesday, SBCC travels to Cuesta for a 5 p.m. game.