The Santa Barbara City College women’s basketball team went 1-1 at the El Camino Christmas Crossover this past weekend, falling to Riverside 74-62 on Friday before defeating Santa Ana 67-50 on Saturday.
With just one game left before the start of Western State Conference play, Santa Barbara now owns a 7-6 record.
The Vaqueros never trailed in their win over Santa Ana (5-7), getting out to a 12-0 lead right off the opening tip. Freshman Eva Carrejo helped spur the hot start with back-to-back three-pointers, beginning what would turn into her hottest shooting performance of the season.
Carrejo went on to hit at least one three in each quarter, finishing 7-of-13 for a team-high 21 points, her first 20-point outing of the year. She became the first Vaquero in the last decade to knock down seven triples in a single game.
She wasn’t the only Vaquero to have a big day, as Isabella Jensen Williams continued to put up incredible numbers. Besides putting up 14 points (6-12 FG) and tying her career-high shooting percentage, the sophomore pulled down a personal-best 18 rebounds and flirted with a quadruple-double, tallying nine assists and seven steals. Jensen Williams continues to lead the WSC-North in assists (4.1) and steals (4.2) per game while ranking third in points (14.7) and second in rebounds (10.6).
After leading 18-4 through one, the Vaquero advantage wouldn’t go below 13 points the rest of the way. Leila Chisholm’s layup in the fourth quarter put them up by 26 points, their largest lead of the day.
Sophomore point guard Brianna Jacobs showed her consistency once again, reaching double-figures for the fifth straight game with 11 points and hitting two threes for the fourth time in a row. Freshman center Paityn Persson scored nine and just missed out on a double-double with a season-best 12 boards to go with three blocks for the third straight game.
Santa Barbara’s first game of the weekend followed a similar script, but unfortunately for the Vaqueros, they were on the wrong end of it. Riverside (11-2) won its seventh straight game after jumping out to a 14-2 lead on 53.8% shooting in the first and never looking.
Jensen Williams reached the 20-point mark for the third straight game, leading the Vaqueros with 22 points, seven boards and five steals. She went 3-of-7 from three-point range making her 7-of-13 over a two-game stretch, the best of her career.
Persson notched her first career double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds. She also added four steals and another three blocks. Jacobs finished with 13 points and three assists on an efficient 5-of-8 from the field and 3-of-5 from deep.
Michael Jorgenson works in communications/media relations at Santa Barbara City College.
email: sports@newspress.com
