Ned Mircetic became the first coach from a California school named community college national Coach of the Year by the Women's Basketball Coaches Association on Monday night at a banquet in Salina, Kan.
Also named the California state co-Coach of the Year for the third time and the WBCA Region 8 Coach of the Year, Mircetic will be honored next month at the NCAA Division I Women's Final Four in St. Louis.
The 106 points Pasadena City scored Saturday night in its 106-93 state semifinal win over the Ventura College women's basketball team represented just the second time this decade that the Pirates allowed 100 points in a game.
It was a rough way to finish for a sophomore class that took a program that hadn't reached the Great Eight in four years and nearly brought it all the way back to a state title.
"They've taken something that was pretty good to begin with and made it significantly better across a broad front," said coach Ned Mircetic. "This year, with me coaching two teams, they had to do more on their own and they didn't skip a beat.
"It would be hard pressed at any level to find a more mature group of kids. The only issue we had this year was Pasadena's hot hand (Saturday). And they handled that well, too. They played hard. They played with dignity."
Lost in the end of the 34-game winning streak was just how far the team had come in the sophomore's tenure, that began with Jessi Selleh's arrival from Royal High in 2006 and continued with the class of Michelle Santizo, Julie Heurung, Donielle Griggs and Christine McPherson in 2007.
"Selleh being here really stabilized the program and has really made recruiting easier," said Mircetic. "They played their hearts out all year long. I don't have a single complaint."
Ventura freshman Erika Ward, a Royal High product, earned a place on the Great Eight's all-tournament team for her team-high 15- and 31-point performances in the Pirates' games with Foothill and Pasadena.
MVP -- Kinyada Johnson, Pasadena
Melia Basavand, Pasadena
Easter Faafiti, Pasadena
Natalie Montes, San Joaquin Delta
Jessica De La Cruz, San Joaquin Delta
Erika Ward, Ventura
Jazmin Holmes, CCSF
The Great Eight may be coming to Thousand Oaks.
Cal Lutheran University was tabbed as possible site for the California Community College basketball championships in a meeting of Commission on Athletics administrators Sunday, according to Solano coach Matt Borchard, the outgoing president of the California Community College Women's Basketball Coaches Association.
"It's in the running," said Borchard. "All I can say is that we will probably know something in a couple weeks.
"Cal Lutheran looks like a nice site, but no contract has been signed."
Cal Lutheran athletic director Dan Kuntz said Sunday that the COA had expressed an interested in using the three-year-old Gilbert Center.
"We are trying to work through some details," said Kuntz. "We are in the process. If we can hammer out an agreement, then I think we'll be there.
"It's something that we would really like to do."
The tournament has spent the last decade in Fresno, San Diego, Stockton and Irvine.
California Community College women's basketball
State semfinal, Selland Arena, Fresno
Ventura 93 Pasadena City 106 FINAL
7:33 -- Basavand buries a pair of killer 3-pointer in transition.
10:00 -- Johnson dribbles the shotclock down and buries a 25-footer to push the lead to 15 points, 72-57. Ventura is in trouble.
11:16 -- Two Smith free throws pushes the Lancers lead to 12 points, 69-57, its largest
14:55 -- Faafati's putback makes it 61-55 Pasadena.
16:50 -- Pasadena's 9-2 run puts the Lancers ahead 55-51.
19:50 -- After scoring 22 points on 6 3-pointer in the first half, Erika Ward leaves the game with an apparent knee injury.
HALF -- Ward had 22 points on 6 of 8 3-point shooting in the first half. But Pasadena responded with four players in double figures, including 12 points for Melia Basavand and 11 points from both Kim Smith and Kinyada Johnson.
0:03 -- King's putback gives the Pirates a 47-46 halftime lead.
3:15 -- A pair of buckets by Easter Faafiti gives PCC a quick 5-0 run and a 42-36 lead.
5:00 -- Heurung splashes two free throws to pull Ventura within 35-33.
6:51 -- Chanelle Brennan knocks down a 8-footer in transition to pull Ventura within 34-29.
9:15 -- Basavand and Kinyatta Johnson bury 3-pointers to push Pasadena on a 8-0 run and ahead 31-25.
10:45 -- Ward hits her fifth 3-pointer in the first half for a 25-23 lead. That was the halftime score yesterday.
15:02 -- Malia Basavand splashes a 30-footer from Pasadena, but Ward responds with her fourth 3-pointer in less than five minutes
16:50 -- Erika Ward puts on a shooting exhibtion in the opening moments making three straight 3-pointers.
The state semifinal between the Ventura and Pasadena City college women's basketball teams will match perhaps the two top 3-point shooters in the state.
Pasadena's Malia Basavand and Ventura's Erika Ward have both stroked 10 3-pointers in a game this season.
Basavand leads the state in 3-pointers with 111.
Ventura College women's basketball coach Ned Mircetic was named the state co-Coach of the Year for the third time this morning at a meeting of the California Community College Women's Basketball Coaches Association.
San Francisco coach Jamie Wong was honored as the co-Coach of the Year from Northern California.
Ventura and San Francisco have combined to with their first 50 games this season. Ventura is 34-0 and CCSF started 26-0 before finishing 33-3 after Friday's loss to Pasadena City.
Had the Rams prevailed in the overtime contest, the two Coaches of the Year would be matching wits tonight.
Mircetic previously won the award in 1996 and 1998.
Community College women's basketball
No. 2S Ventura (34-0) vs. No. 4S Pasadena City (31-4)
CCCAA state semifinal, Selland Arena, Fresno
VC Athletic Event Center, 7 p.m.
Radio: KVTA 1520 AM, KKZZ 1400 AM, Homefieldsports.com
Head coaches: Ventura, Ned Mircetic (19th year, 564-84); Pasadena, Joe Peron (13th year, 322-80).
Quarterfinal result: Ventura def. No. 3N Foothill 60-59; Pasadena def. San Francisco 95-93 (OT).
League finish: Ventura, WSC North champion; Pasadena, SCC North runner-up
Head to head: Did not play.
RPI: Ventura, 4th; Pasadena, 8th.
Vs. Great Eight: Ventura, 6-0; Pasadena 3-2.
Final Four history: Ventura is making its 10th Final Four appearance, but the first since 2003. Pasadena is making its fifth appearance in six years, missing out only in 2006.
Final Four record: Ventura 7-2; Pasadena 2-2.
Team offense: Ventura, 79.3 ppg (2nd); Pasadena 77.5 ppg (3rd).
Team defense: Ventura, 50.4 ppg (2nd); Pasadena 58.4 ppg (26th).
Game Facts: Having survived the two toughest games of Friday's quarterfinals, Ventura and Pasadena have to regroup and play for a berth in the state title game, which would be the Pirates' eighth or the Lancers' third. Shutout in transition against Foothill and dominated inside, 34-14, Ventura turned to the free throw line (19 of 24) and 3-point stripe (7 of 16). Five VC players combined for seven 3-pointers. All-Star PG Kinyatta Johnson has been a force of nature in the postseason, averaging 31.0 points, including 34 points in regulation Friday. But the Lancers revolve around a Big Four of Johnson (17.7 ppg, 6.0 asg), All-State PF Easter Faafiti (17.0 ppg, 10.3 rpg), SG Melia Basavand (11.3 ppg, a state-best 111 3-pointers) and G Kim Smith (12.9 ppg). Although it was the fifth starter, Allegra Kohley, whose putback with 3.3 seconds left in overtime won the quarterfinal against CCSF. The Pirates have five players averaging in double figures, plus All-American PG Michelle Santizo (9.5 ppg), who may have only scored 5 points Friday but made the two biggest shots down the stretch.Two wins away from the third perfect season in program history and the sixth in state history, Ventura is the tournament's best offensive and defensive team, statistically, having been played to a single-digit margin just four times. Before Friday, the Pirates were second in the state in shooting percentage (48.1 percent), third in the state in assists and fifth in the state in free throw percentage (66 percent).
California Community College women's basketball
State quarterfinals, Friday
Ventura 60, Foothill 59: Great Escape for VC women by Joe Curley, Ventura County Star, in Fresno; Moving on to the state semifinals by David Lopez, the Student Voice; Pirates Survive by VCWePlayHard.com
Pasadena City 95, City College of San Francisco 93 (OT): Kohley's late heroics send PCC women to state semis by Steve Ramirez, Pasadena Star-News
Mount SAC 70, Fresno City 64: Fresno women fall by Ken Robison, Fresno Bee; Mounties move on to semifinals by Steve Ramirez, San Gabriel Valley Times.
San Joaquin Delta 60, Antelope Valley 56: Role Reversal by Mark Godi, Stockton Record.
Previous coverage
San Gabriel Valley Tribune: Mt. SAC opens state tourney play on Friday by Steve Ramirez.
Stockton Record: Guard looks for revenge versus AVC by Mark Godi.
Pasadena Star-News: Deafness hasn't slowed PCC's Faafiti by Keith Larr.
PCC Courier: Women's Basketball heads to sixth straight state tournament by Richard Garcia.
San Gabriel Valley Tribune: Mount SAC takes aim at No. 4 by Steve Ramirez
California Community College men's basketball
Today's coverage
The Stockton Record: Hot hand will be key to solving Saddleback's 'D'
State quarterfinals, Thursday
Riverside 71, Fresno City 67: State No. 1 Rams stunned at men's tourney by Ken Robison, Fresno Bee.
San Joaquin Delta 71, San Diego City 68: Delta parties to semis by Mark Godi, Stockton Record.
City College of San Francisco 92, San Bernardino Valley 87 (3OT): Wolverines fall in triple OT by Steve Ramirez, San Bernardino Sun; CCSF wins in 3 overtimes by San Francisco Chronicle.
Saddleback 62, Reedley 56: Gauchos move onby John Franz, The Saddleback Lariat.
The No. 2S Ventura College women's basketball team (34-0) will face No. 4S Pasadena City College (31-4) in the Saturday's 7 p.m state semifinal.
The Lancers reached their fifth semifinal in six seasons by defeated the North's top seed, San Francisco, 95-93 in overtime, behind 34 points by All-State point guard Kinyatta Johnson.
"That was a heck of a game," said Pasadena coach Joe Peron. "I was surprised with how many points she had, to tell you the truth.
Johnson has gone off for 35 points, 24 points and 34 points in the Lancers' three postseason games.
"She's just a trooper," said Peron. "She's just something else. I'm really proud of the way she's playing basketball. She keeps fighting."
Pasadena's only quarterfinal loss was a 60-56 loss to San Joaquin Delta on March 9, 2006.
After losses to Cypress and Mount San Antonio in the 2004 and 2005 state championship games, Pasadena has dropped back-to-back state semifinals to Sierra and Foothill in 2007 and 2008, respectively.
The Ventura College women's basketball team returns to the state Final Four Saturday night at 7 p.m., five years after the Pirates' nine-year streak of Final Four appearances was snapped by eventual champion Cypress at the VC Athletic Event Center.
"I'm feeling forfuntate that we can play one more game," said Ventura coach Ned Mircetic. "And then (Saturday) night, we'll be playing to play one more night."
Ventura was 7-2 in state semifinals from 1995 to 2003, falling in the first to eventual champion Los Angeles Harbor and in the last to eventual state champion Orange Coast.
In the decade from 1995 to 2004, Ventura won the state title five times and was eliminated by the eventual state champion five times.
How entertaining was Friday's state quarterfinals? The state's eight best teams by nearly every measure were separated by just 13 points.
And good luck picking the Game of the Day. Pasadena City's 95-93 overtime thriller over San Francisco was every bit as good as Ventura's riveting 60-59 nailbiter over mammoth Foothill.
And somehow, those four teams were in the same four-team grouping, which means
Ventura plays Pasadena today.
Plenty of onlookers were convinced that four of the top five teams in the tournament were in the Ventura-Foothill-San Francisco-Pasadena grouping.
Scouting the Ventura-Foothill quarterfinal to see which team his Lancers would play Saturday, Pasadena coach Joe Peron couldn't decide which team he wanted to win.
"It came down the wire really good," said Peron. "I'm looking at my team and saying, 'I really don't want to play either one of those teams.'
"Foothill is too big. It's ridiculous. They were humongous. They are a Division I-looking team.
"Ventura has one big kid, but they use up so much of the width of the court with their passing."
The Ventura College women's basketball team made 7-of-16 3-pointers in Friday night's 60-59 state quarterfinal win over Foothill and every one was huge, considering:
1. Ventura trailed 13-3 when Erika Ward buried a 25-footer from the Foothill coaches' box for the Pirates' first field goal 8:39 into the game.
2. Three additional 3-pointers by Ward and Selleh accounted for nine of Ventura's final 18 points of the first half.
3. Selleh's right wing 3 with three seconds left in the half gave Ventura an unlikely 25-23 halftime lead.
4. The four combined 3s by Selleh and Ward, two apiece, accounted for 12 of Ventura's 25 points in the first half.
5. After a 12-2 run to open the second half gave Foothill a 35-27 lead, Ventura clawed back to within 39-38 on the back of a pair of Amanda Padilla 3-pointers.
6. Ventura's final field goal of the game was Michelle Santizo's corner 3-pointer with three minutes to play, which gave Ventura its largest lead of the night, 58-55, and put the Pirates in position to grind out the win in the final minutes on single free throws by Chanelle Brennan and Julie Heurung.
The Ventura College women's basketball team is back in the Final Four, having defeated its biggest, toughest opponent of the year despite:
1. Missing its first 15 shots of the field over nearly the first nine minutes of the game.
2. Getting a combined 7-for-35 shooting night from three key players.
3. Shooting 29.3 percent from the field as a team.
(and the biggie)
4. Scoring 0 transition points, which was a point of emphasis against the mammoth Foothill frontcourt.
So how'd they do it?
1. Defense, as allowing 27.6 percent shooting in the first half kept Foothill from building a 20-point lead in the first eight minutes.
2. Shooting 19 of 24 from the foul line, especially 9 of 9 from Erika Ward.
3. Shooting 7 of 16 from 3-point land
4. Kris King, who came off the bench to chip in six key points as Julie Heurung was being asked to carry an enormous burden against the Fresno front line.
California community college basketball
WOMEN
No. 1S Mount SAC (32-3) vs. No. 2N San Joaquin Delta (30-6), 5 p.m.
No. 2S Ventura (34-0) vs. No. 4S Pasadena City (31-4), 7 p.m.
MEN
No. 1S Saddleback vs. No. 3N San Joaquin Delta, 1 p.m.
No. 2N San Francisco vs. No. 4S Riverside, 3 p.m.
California Community College women's basketball
State quarterfinals, Selland Arena, Fresno
No. 4S Pasadena 95, No. 1N San Francisco 93 (OT)
No. 2N San Joaquin Delta 60, No. 3S Antelope Valley 56
No. 2S Ventura 60, No. 3N Foothill 59
No. 1S Mount SAC 70, No. 4N Fresno City 64.
Click the jump for the box score from the Ventura College women's basketball team's 60-59 win over Foothill College in the state quarterfinals Saturday night at Selland Arena.
Ventura triumphed despite holding just six leads, none larger than three points, for a total of five of the game's 40 minutes.
All-State forward Jessi Selleh on the Ventura College women's basketball team's dramatic 60-59 state quarterfinal win over Foothill Friday night at Selland Arena in Fresno.
"They're the best team we've played all year," said Selleh. "On paper, it would have been no match. It just wouldn't have added up to a win."
"That was the most physical game we've played all year."
Forward Chanelle Brennan on the Ventura College women's basketball team's dramatic 60-59 state quarterfinal win over Foothill Friday night at Selland Arena in Fresno.
"We kept it cool, we kept it smooth," said Brennan. "We just went up a level."
Comment (0)
Print