Threes reigned supreme on Thursday night as SBCC knocked down 62.3 percent (12-19) from beyond the arc in an 80-56 rout of L.A. Valley at the Sports Pavilion.
The Vaqueros (5-1) won their fourth in a row, outscoring the Monarchs (0-2) by 24 points from the 3-point line to win the non-conference game by 24 points.
A trio of Vaqueros combined for 61 points. Freshman guard Jordan Parkhurst led the way with 22 points on 8-9 shooting and 3-4 from downtown. Sophia Torres added 20 points, 11 rebounds and four assists while Alondra Jimenez had 19 points, seven rebounds, five assists and three steals.
SBCC opened on an 11-2 run and expanded the margin to 26-10 on a 3-pointer by Jimenez with 14 seconds to go in the first quarter. The Vaqueros hit 8-11 from long distance in the first half and led 41-21 at the break.
Jimenez, a sophomore left-hander, was 7-10 from the field and drained 5-8 from 3-point range. Torres shot 10-19 from the field and posted her fourth double-double with five offensive rebounds. Torres, a 5-11 sophomore forward from Santa Barbara High, leads the Vaqueros in field-goal percentage at 58.3%.
The Vaqueros outshot L.A. Valley 51.7 to 34.5% and won the battle of the boards, 40-32.
"Coach said we could come in and get some early shooting in today and it paid off," said Jimenez, a former Santa Barbara standout. "We love when they turn the ball over, we have to go score on those chances.
"It's very important to get off to a good start because that gives us energy, it gives the bench energy and then we're rolling. We had it written on the board, 'We have to be intense from the jump.' "
The Monarchs cut the deficit to 15 on a layup by Janelle Jiron with 8:49 to play in the third. Then Jimenez hit a jumper and Jada Forsdick-Stevenson canned a triple to ignite a 17-2 burst over the next 4:35. The lead grew to 30 points (60-30) on a steal and layup by Parkhurst with 4:14 left in the third.
"We were confident and we were prepared," said Parkhurst, a freshman guard from Dana Point.
And how did the Vaqueros get so many open looks from 3-point range?
"Defense," said Parkhurst. "Defensive intensity leads to offensive freedom."
Forsdick-Stevenson and Ciera Van Quick (2-2 on 3's) scored six points each and Sierra Cavaletto added six rebounds and three assists in 16 minutes off the bench.
The Vaqueros led 66-44 after three quarters. The Monarchs got it down to 16 points (70-54) on a triple by Nhi Nguyen with just under eight minutes to go. Then Jimenez fed Torres for a fast-break layup to start a 10-0 run that put the game on ice.
"Tonight was all about our program philosophy – 2 and 2," said coach Sandrine Krul. "You score 2 and you stop 2 and they finally did it. Every time you look up, you're up 5, you're up 10. They finally executed our '2 and 2' and it was beautiful the way they shared the ball. We are a team 1 through 11 and it's awesome."
SBCC will play one game in the Santa Ana Tournament on Saturday at 2 p.m.
