Pauling’s season-high 29 points spark 74-63 win

Aaliyah Pauling tossed in a season-high 29 points and Meagan Moore added 18 on Saturday as SBCC rode a fast start to a 74-63 women's basketball triumph over Antelope Valley at the Citrus Crossover.

Pauling scored 11 in the first quarter and the Vaqueros raced out to leads of 13-5, 19-11 and 27-15. Pauling was 3-3 on 3-pointers and the team went 5-for-5. The Vaqueros (8-8) shot a blistering 73.3 percent (11-15) in the first 10 minutes on the way to snapping a four-game losing streak.

Pauling, a 5-10 guard from Spokane, Wash., made 10-17 from the field and 6-7 free throws. She also had seven rebounds and six assists. Moore was 9-10 from the charity stripe on a day the Vaqueros converted a season-best 88.9 percent of their free throws (16-18).

Deja Smith topped the Marauders (8-10) with 27 points, six rebounds and five assists. SBCC avenged an earlier 61-52 defeat to AVC on Dec. 18 at the L.A. Valley Crossover.

"We finally played 40 minutes and Meagan and Aaliyah played both sides of the court," said SBCC coach Sandrine Krul. "Their No. 2 (Smith) had 20 in the first half and only seven in the second."

The Vaqueros scored just 12 in the second quarter and led 39-34 at the half.

Santa Barbara won the shooting battle, 50 to 32.1 percent, and prevailed in rebounds (36-33) for the 12th straight game. SBCC hit 26 of 52 from the field to reach the 50-percent mark for the first time this year.

Lauren Noggle, a freshman from Dos Pueblos High, made her first start in 10 games. She finished with eight points, tied her season high with 15 rebounds (all defensive) and blocked two shots. Noggle has 51 rebounds in her last four games for a 12.8 average.

"Lauren grabbed 15 rebounds and held their best rebounder (Shantanel Bivens, who was averaging 13.3) to four," noted Krul.

Holly Barrera added eight points, four rebounds, three assists and three steals.

The Vaqueros worked the ball inside, outscoring the Marauders 28-16 in the paint.

The Marauders got within seven (58-51) with 7:25 to play, then Noggle hit back-to-back jumpers, Pauling sank two free throws and Moore made four straight FTs to boost the lead to 15 points at 68-53 with 4:27 on the clock.

"We shot the ball really well from the field and the free-throw line," Krul said. "Although we had 24 turnovers, we forced them into 21 and compensated by outrebounding them 23-11 in the second half."

The Vaqueros will open their 10-game WSC North schedule on Saturday, Jan. 13 at Cuesta with tip-off at 5 p.m. The site was changed since SBCC's gym is being used by the Red Cross operations. The return match on Saturday, Feb. 3 will be played at SBCC, also at 5 p.m.