Vaqueros cruise past Porterville 65-37 to claim Gervasoni title

SBCC dominated the third quarter and second half on Saturday to register a 65-37 women's basketball win over Porterville and claim the title of the Gervasoni Holiday Classic at De Anza College.

The Vaqueros (11-4) won their third in a row and the Pirates fell to 3-11.

Santa Barbara took a 36-27 halftime lead, then smothered Porterville with a 17-2 third-quarter run and a 29-10 second-half performance.

The Vaqueros won their first two games in the eight-team tourney by six and three points, then erupted for their largest victory margin of the season (28 points) and lowest opponent total (37 points) in the title game.

Jennae Mayberry had 11 points and five rebounds for the Vaqueros. Maaria Jaakkola made her first start of the year and had 11 points and three assists. Jaakkola hit 5-of-7 from the field and posted her season high in scoring for the second straight day.

The Vaqueros shot 35.0% from the field and 71.4% from the free-throw line (15-21). They shared the ball nicely with 15 assists on 21 field goals.

"We played well together all weekend and when you can win a championship with all 13 players competing every night, that's a special achievement," said coach Sandrine Krul. "The theme of the weekend was for every player to play their role.

"The other theme was to play our pace and speed up Porterville. In the first half, they kept up but in the second half, we really got our 2 & 2's going (stop 2 points, score 2 points)."

Sierra Cavaletto added 10 points and four rebounds while Aaliyah Pauling had five points, five rebounds and six assists. Jada Forsdick-Stevenson contributed eight points and a pair of 3-pointers. Tori Kelley tossed in six points and grabbed two rebounds in nine minutes off the bench.

The Vaquero bench outscored the starters 37-28.

SBCC will play its final two non-conference games in the Moorpark Crossover. The Vaqueros will take on Citrus on Thursday, Jan. 10, and Antelope Valley on Friday, Jan. 11, with both games tipping off at 3 p.m.