It may not have been the best game that the Ventura College Pirates women’s basketball team has played in their 34-win season, however, Ventura had just enough in the tank to knock off Foothill College 60-59 Friday to advance into the semi-final game of the CCCAA State Basketball Tournament in Fresno.
“I don’t know if we ever got it going,” said Ventura head coach Ned Mircetic. “In this game, we just gutted it out one floor board at a time. But it was slow and painful; that’s an outstanding Foothill team.”
Foothill led for most of the game, but with just about 20 seconds remaining in the game, VC’s Julie Heurung stepped up to the free throw line with the game tied at 59-59. She connected on the first free throw, but missed on the second.
That would prove to be the difference in the game, as with four seconds left in the game, Foothill had an inbound play. When they went to toss the ball in, Ventura’s Donielle Griggs stepped in the passing lane to tip the ball away.
That wasn’t enough to settle the game though, because Foothill got the ball back once more with just 2.5 seconds remaining on the clock. The inbound pass that Foothill threw went over everyone’s head and out of bounds with .5 seconds left, and the game was over.
Fittingly, after hitting the game-winning free throw, Heurung clinched the ball in her arms to run out the clock and give Ventura the win.
Ventura did everything that it could do this late in the season to play a competitive game.
“There’s not much to prepare, so at this time you just kind of have to let it out, and not make too many adjustments other than emphasizing and really going back to those things that identify us as team,” said Mircetic.
“We were well prepared to play them. But they still took us out of some of the things we wanted to do,” said Mircetic. “We have had a few big battles with Foothill, and this is just another one in a long line of games we’ve had with them.”
Ventura had a weak game from the field shooting just 29.3 percent.
“We were trying to improve on our shots, and improve on attacking the boards, because they attack the boards very well,” said Ventura’s point guard Michelle Santizo.
Ventura moves on to play Pasadena City College Saturday night with tip off set for 7 p.m. Stay up-to-date by watching StudentVoiceOnline.com for play-by-play coverage through Twitter.
To see the twitter coverage of the game, go to www.twitter.com/Student_Voice
