SBCC rebounded from its first WSC North loss with a defensive gem on Saturday night, holding Hancock to 15 first-half points in a 64-35 women's basketball victory at the Sports Pavilion.
Jasmine Mata scored all 12 of her team-high points in the first half on a quartet of 3-pointers. The Vaqueros, ranked No. 16 in the state, only led 9-7 after the first 12 minutes. Mata drained two straight triples to ignite a 15-0 run and SBCC led 27-15 at the break.
SBCC (17-8, 5-1) remained in a first-place tie with No. 2 Ventura, whom they beat earlier this year.
The Vaqueros outshot the Bulldogs 37 to 31 percent, won the board battle 38-25 and forced Hancock (4-18, 0-6) into 33 turnovers. Santa Barbara was missing one of its key players, Keia Nobles.
Mhiah Vickers had 11 points, all in the second half, and four steals while Brooke Amenta chipped in with 11 points and six rebounds. Jessica Valadez had nine points off the bench on 3-5 shooting from the 3-point line.
"Our team keeps playing hard, even when they miss shots," said coach Sandrine Krul. "Playing hard makes up for so many mistakes. That's why I subbed some of our starters out -- its because they weren't playing hard. "I'm always happy when everyone plays and everyone scores."
Taylor DeSilva had seven rebounds and Sharar Ali-Clarke sparked the Vaqueros with seven assists and seven steals.
Vickers scored eight points in the first 4:20 of the second half as the lead grew to 37-19. SBCC went on an 18-4 run later in the half, stretching the lead to 31 points (59-28) on a layup by Vickers with 2:51 to play.
"Our defense is always the thing that gets us going and it starts our offense," said Vickers, a 5-11 freshman from Thousand Oaks. "With defensive intensity, we get to do whatever we want on offense. We were having fun in the second half. That's what Santa Barbara basketball is -- making runs and having fun."