The Mt. San Antonio College Mounties won just a single battle against the Ventura College Pirates on Sunday night in the championship game of the 12th annual Ventura College Tournament of Champions game, and that was the opening tip off.
The Pirates suffocated any offensive run the Mounties tried to put together in a 66-43 blowout, en route to their fourth tournament championship trophy and second consecutive title.
The Pirates were led by sophomore Amanda Padilla, who finished the game with 24 points and was crowned tournament MVP. Pirates’ coach Ned Mircetic, in his 20th season with the team, said that Padilla ran the offense the best he had ever seen.
“She executed that offense as well as anybody at any level,” Mircetic said. “A lot of teams in the NBA run that offense, and they don’t orchestrate as well she did. They typically do it once or twice, but she did it for the whole game.”
Padilla received help from sophomore guard Erika Ward, who racked up 19 points, and sophomore Chanelle Brennan, who put in nine points, and was named to the 2009 All-Tournament Team.
The Pirates came into the tournament ranked No. 1 in the state, and left the Mounties, ranked No. 2, in the dust right from the beginning.
The Pirates jumped out to a 16-3 lead after five-and-a-half minutes. From there, the closest the Mounties were able to cut the lead down to was six with 2:18 remaining in the first half.
After the first minute of the second half, the game was never closer than 14 points in the Pirates’ favor.
With the tournament victory, the Pirates take one step towards a repeat of last year, finishing with a 34-1 record after getting knocked out of the CCCAA playoffs in the semi-finals.
“I’m happy right now,” said Mircetic. “We’ll enjoy it tonight and early tomorrow, but the games start coming pretty fast, you have to let this one go pretty quick.”
However, Mircetic did not overlook the team’s performance in the two games leading up to the tournament championship game.
“For the last two games, we were pretty average,” Mercetic said. “To put out this kind of effort, it really gives you hope for improvement, and it gives you hope of being able to add to this.”
