Hancock Women Open Second Half of Conference Saturday at SBCC

The women's basketball team opens the second half of Western State Conference play at 4-2 in league and in third place in the conference standings. At 15-6 overall, the Bulldogs have already reached their biggest win total since they went 15-15 in 2000-01.

Hancock returns to action on Saturday, January 30 with a 5 p.m. game at Santa Barbara City College. The Vaqueros are 3-3 in conference to start the week. Freshman forward Destinee King ranks 14^th in California with a scoring average of 18.3 points per game. She also ranks ninth with 12 rebounds per game.  Jeanie Pattison averages 9.5 points and Kesler Johnson averages 9.4 points per game for the Vaqueros.

SBCC defeated Hancock in its conference opener 66-37 earlier this month. Forward Destinee King led the Vaqueros with 30 points and 20 rebounds. Kesler Johnson added 10 points, five rebounds and three steals. Freshman guard Syenna Ramirez (St. Joseph HS) led the Bulldogs with 18 points in the loss.

Hancock is riding a two-game winning streak after beating LA Pierce 53-46 and Cuesta 56-43 at home last week. The Bulldogs overcame a 16-point first half deficit to defeat the Brahmas behind 17 from Ramirez, a career-high 11 from Janessa Hernandez and 10 points from Kelly McClain. The Bulldogs snapped a 10-game losing streak to Cuesta thanks to 17 points form Marissa Torres (Templeton HS), 14 points and 10 rebounds from McClain, and 11 points from Ramirez.  McClain recorded her third double-double of the season in Hancock's first victory over Cuesta since January 2011. The victory over Cuesta was also third-year head coach Cary Nerelli's 40^th career win at Hancock. The C.I.F. Hall of Fame inductee has an overall record of 40-36.