Chanelle Brennan had 33 pts, 23 in the second half, as Ventura (34-1) won its sixth state championship and first since 2002 with a 59-47 win over Fullerton (32-2) Sunday afternoon at Cal Lutheran in the women's championship game.
Brennan, who scored the go-ahead basket in the final minutes of Ventura's semifinal win over San Francisco, made sure no such late-game heroics would be needed against Fullerton, powering Ventura to a double-digit win after the Pirates held just a one-point advantage at halftime. But the 5-11 sophomore scored 23 points in the second half, nearly outscoring Fullerton herself, and Ventura led by at least nine points for the last nine minutes.
Much to the delight of the huge crowd, most of which was clad in orange and black, Ventura jumped out to an 8-0 lead in the first 2:32. The lead reached 10-0 after a jumper by Amanda Padilla about four minutes into the game, at which point Fullerton was 0-for-8 from the floor.
But Fullerton slowed the pace after that and got back into the game, cutting the margin to a single point at 15-14 with 7:15 left and taking a 16-15 lead on a basket by Ebony McClain with 6:41 left in the half. The lead went back and forth the rest of the half, but Padilla put Ventura back in front with a 3-pointer at the halftime buzzer to make it 22-21 at the break.
And Ventura led the rest of the way, thanks largely to Brennan, who made two free throws and then scored inside to push VC's lead to 26-21. She pushed the lead to six points at 39-33, scoring on a pass from Padilla. Then she took a pass from Erika Ward to push the margin to seven at 41-34 with 10:30 left. Kris King scored inside to make it 44-36 with 9:38 left, and then Brennan scored on an outlet pass from Gabrielle Conn to make it a 10-point game at 46-36 with 9:03 remaining. Then Brennan knocked down a 3-pointer to make it 49-36 with 8:12 left.
Fullerton never really rallied after that. A pair of free throws by Ashleigh Adams cut the margin to single digits at 49-40 with 6:35 left, and Destainee Hollis-Rudison again cut the deficit to nine points at 51-42 with 3:15 left with a basket after a steal, but never got any closer.
Brennan split two free throws with 2:13 left to make it a ten-point game again at 52-42, giving her 30 points on the day. Then Padilla made two free throws with 1:42 left to make it 54-42. Brennan finished her day with a 3-point play with 47.1 seconds left to make it 57-44 and raise her point total to 33, an astounding total of 25 points more than anyone else in the game.
Brennan was the obvious choice for tourney MVP. Joining her on the all-tournament team was Padilla, who had 8 pts and 4 asts in the final. King also had 8 pts. Conn did not score but grabbed 12 rebs, five more than anyone else in the game.
For Fullerton, Hollis-Rudison led the way with 8 pts, 7 rebs, 4 asts and 4 steals. Taiyande Huskey, who had 21 pts in the semifinal, had just 7 pts but was named to the all-tournament team. Danielle Ekno had 6 pts and 4 rebs and was also named to the all-tournament team.
The state championship is the sixth for Ventura and coach Ned Mircetic. The Pirates also won the title in 1996, 1997, 2000, 2001 and 2002.
Fullerton finishes the season with a 32-2 mark with both losses coming to Ventura.
box score
Sunday, March 14, 2010 - 1 pm
at Cal Lutheran, Thousand Oaks
State Championship Game - Women
Ventura 59:
3-Gabrielle Conn, PF - 0/2 fg, 12 reb, 3 ast, 1 blk, 3 pf, 0 pts
10-Amanda Padilla, PG - 2/9 fg, 2/2 ft, 2 reb, 4 ast, 8 pts
11-Erika Ward, SG - 1/6 fg, 3 reb, 4 ast, 1 stl, 5 pf, 2 pts
21-Chanelle Brennan, SF - 12/24 fg, 7/10 ft, 5 reb, 2 ast, 1 blk, 1 pf, 33 pts
32-Kris King, C - 4/9 fg, 6 reb, 1 ast, 1 blk, 1 stl, 3 pf, 8 pts
12-Suzie Faanono, F - 3/4 fg, 3 reb, 1 ast, 1 stl, 1 pf, 6 pts
40-Jordan Clegg, C - 1 reb, 1 ast, 2 stl, 3 pf, 0 pts
14-Brenda Van Someren, G - 2/2 ft, 1 reb, 1 stl, 2 pts
23-Ariel Hale, F - 0/1 ft, 2 reb, 0 pts
15-Lacey Escamilla, G - 0 pts
50-Jessica Kidder, C - 0 pts
team rebounds: 5
Totals: 22/55 fg (.400), 11/14 ft (.786), 40 reb, 16 ast, 3 blk, 6 stl, 16 pf, 59 pts
3-pt fg (4): Padilla 2, Brennan 2
Fouled Out: Ward 1:11 left
Turnovers (20): Padilla 5, King 5, Ward 4, Brennan 3, Conn, Faanono, team
Fullerton 47:
3-Danielle Ekno, PF - 3/8 fg, 4 reb, 1 stl, 3 pf, 6 pts
4-Sarah Jackson, SF - 2/4 fg, 1 reb, 1 ast, 4 stl, 4 pf, 4 pts
14-Nicole Martin, C - 1 reb, 1 pf, 0 pts
20-Ashley James, PG - 0/3 fg, 1 reb, 1 pf, 0 pts
30-Taiyande Huskey, SG - 3/17 fg, 4 reb, 2 ast, 1 stl, 1 pf, 7 pts
5-Jhakia McDonald, G - 1/8 fg, 4/5 ft, 6 reb, 5 ast, 2 pf, 6 pts
13-Rachel Hatch, G - 2/6 fg, 0/2 ft, 4 reb, 1 ast, 1 stl, 6 pts
22-Ashleigh Adams, F - 1/3 fg, 4/8 ft, 7 reb, 1 blk, 2 stl, 1 pf, 6 pts
44-Ebony McClain, C - 2/2 fg, 4 reb, 2 stl, 1 pf, 4 pts
11-Destainee Hollis-Rudison, F - 3/11 fg, 2/2 ft, 7 reb, 4 ast, 4 stl, 1 pf, 8 pts
team rebounds: 4
Totals: 17/62 fg (.274), 10/17 ft (.588), 43 reb, 13 ast, 1 blk, 15 stl, 15 pf, 47 pts
3-pt fg (3): Hatch 2, Huskey
Turnovers (19): McDonald 6, Adams 3, Hollis-Rudison 3, Huskey 2, Hatch 2, Jackson, James, McClain
Halftime Score: Ventura 22, Fullerton 21
Updated Records: Ventura 34-1, Fullerton 32-2 (both losses to Ventura)
All-Tourney Team included Brennan (MVP) & Padilla of Ventura and Ekno & Huskey of Fullerton
