Vaqueros win fourth straight to reach tourney final

Freshman guard Aaliyah Pauling had a superior all-around game on Friday night with 14 points, five rebounds and six assists as SBCC raced past West Hills 73-59 to reach the championship game of the Don Warkentin Tournament at West Hills-Lemoore.

The Vaqueros (7-4) have won four straight and six of the last seven. They jumped out to a 25-14 first-quarter lead and led 35-26 at the half. The Vaqueros dominated the third quarter, 28-15, and took a 22-point lead (63-41) into the fourth period.

Hannah Rogers had 12 points and eight rebounds while Holly Barrera scored at least 12 points for the fifth straight game. She tallied 12 points, six assists and three steals. Barrera has scored 12, 12, 12, 17 and 12 in her last five contests.

"We had our transition game going strong tonight," said coach Sandrine Krul. "Lauren Noggle was playing so hard off the bench. I'm very proud of this unit believing in our system of 14-4-40 (14 players, playing hard and tough for 4 quarters and 40 minutes)."

SBCC outshot the Falcons 43 to 36 percent and outrebounded them 49-40.

Diamond Alexander contributed eight points and four boards. Noggle had six points, nine rebounds and two steals in 21 minutes off the bench.

The Vaqueros will battle No. 6 Fresno City (10-3) for the championship on Saturday at 3 p.m. The Rams handed No. 2 Sequoias (15-1) its first loss on Saturday, 65-55.