SBCC went on a 17-4 run at the end of the third quarter and start of the fourth on Saturday night to pull away from Cuesta on the way to an 82-73 women's basketball triumph in the Sports Pavilion.
Destinee King led the Vaqueros (14-9, 3-3 WSC North) with 18 points and 11 rebounds. She hit 5-11 from the field and 8-12 from the free-throw line. Jada Clark had a double-double as well with 12 points, 12 rebounds, four blocks and three steals.
Alyssa Cosio nailed 3-of-6 from 3-point land and tallied 15 points and eight assists. Jocelin Petatan added nine points and seven rebounds (four offensive) and Stella Dulay had nine points, including a pair of 3-pointers.
Madison Collins topped the Cougars (12-12, 1-5) with 21 points and 12 rebounds. Tawny Lino scored 15 of her 17 points in the second quarter, then suffered a knee injury on a drive midway through the third quarter and didn't return.
The Vaqueros won the shooting battle 40.6 to 39.4 percent and led in rebounds 44-36.
"We really played like a team, competing hard and sharing the ball," said coach Sandrine Krul. "Cuesta is a well-coached team and for us to battle every possession means every team member created momentum with each possession.
"It's always a nice W when everyone contributes and that makes our wins so much more enjoyable. We need everyone to work together to win and when we do that, we get balanced scoring and more assists than turnovers."
Nine of 10 Vaqueros scored and five were between nine and 18 points. They broke out of their 3-point slump with a season-high nine treys in 23 attempts. They assisted on 22 of 28 baskets and committed 21 turnovers.
The Vaqueros trailed 33-32 at intermission and took command with a 30-17 third-quarter advantage.
SBCC was up by two (48-46) with 2:58 to go in the third, then Destiny Renteria hit a triple to ignite a 14-4 run. Clark made her third trifecta of the year and Cosio swished another triple with 0:04 left for a 62-50 heading into the final period.
Santa Barbara stretched the margin to 18 (76-58) on a three-point play by Clark with 4:34 remaining. Cuesta reeled off seven straight to get within 11 before Morgan Giove hit a layup to make it 78-65 with 3:22 to play.
The Vaqueros travel to Oxnard for a 7 p.m. game on Wednesday night.
