Ventura girls basketball beats the cross-town rival Buena 55-38, ending their Pacific View League season 9-1

On Tuesday Feb. 4, the varsity girls basketball team played against cross-town rival, Buena High. The Cougars were the dominant force right from the start, resulting in the first quarter ending with the Cougars up 13-4. 

Sophomore Amaya Fuentes (number 42) gave the game plan the team conducted to defeat Buena, “Our plan was to out rebound them and to limit their shot attempts as whole. We also focused on not letting their key shooters shoot.” 

The Cougars stayed sharp in not just the first quarter but the second one as well. With aggressive plays, scoring 13 more points, and maintaining the lead, the girls wrapped up the first half with the score 26-15, still in the lead.

Fuentes also recapped on how the season has been going for the team so far, “The season as a whole is going super well. We improved a lot from last year and we are working together a lot better. Our goal the entire time was winning league which we did accomplish so that was super exciting. Most of our ‘bumps’ happened in preseason, but by league we had all gotten super focused and determined to prove ourselves in league.”

 As said, the girls have improved on teamwork which effectively shows in their gameplay. The girls went into the third quarter still in the strong lead and remaining as the dominant force.

 Sophomore Alexis Howery (number 22) spoke on the dynamic of the rivalry game, “It was really intense but we shut down Buena incredibly with our defenses. My personal favorite highlights were seeing Sammie Henley (number 25) dominate her last high school league game of the career, and seeing the young starting lineup dominate too. I think our team could have done better by keeping our fouls down.” 

In the third quarter, many fouls were made by both sides but the Cougars took advantage of the penalty shots given to them as seen in the finishing score of 34-20. 

The fourth quarter was by far the most productive one of the game for both Ventura and Buena. A cumulative 21 points for Ventura and 18 for Buena, coming from mainly penalty shots by Fuentes, Henley, and sophomore Alina Olivo (number 35), Ventura came out victorious with a final score of 55-38. 

Junior Madeleine Scheer (number 21) gave her thoughts on the game, “It was pretty intense. Even though it wasn’t too close, it’s always nerve racking having so many people. We all played very hard and it was cool seeing so much school spirit. Overall I think we did very well but we could’ve rebounded more, but we had really good defense though which had a big part.”

The girls followed the game plan successfully and stayed sharp on offense defense against the Bulldogs, resulting in the big rivalry win. The girls are now going into the CIF season where their stated goal is “to win our CIF division, then ideally win state,” said by Fuentes. Scheer said, “Now we are all just preparing for playoffs. Our first CIF game is home on Thursday Feb. 13 against Crescenta Valley.” The Cougars have had a successful season, ending 9-1 in the Pacific View League.