Despite 16 from Ramirez, No. 14 Hancock Women Drop Conference Opener to Santa Barbara

Destinee King scored 30 points and grabbed 20 rebounds to lead the Santa Barbara City College women's basketball to a 66-37 upset win over No. 14 Allan Hancock College on Wednesday in Santa Maria. After dropping their conference opener, the Bulldogs dropped to 0-1 in Western State Conference play and 11-5 overall. Santa Barbara improved to 10-7 overall and 1-0 in league.

Syenna Ramirez led the Bulldogs with 16 points. The freshman made six of her 18 shots to go with five rebounds.  The St. Joseph High School graduate hit a three-pointer with 5:15 to go in the first half to tie the game 20-20, but the Vaqueros went on an 11-0 run to regain control.

Sophomore guard Marissa Torres added six points and two steals for the Bulldogs, while Destinee Garcia finished with five points, six rebounds, five steals and three assists.

Hancock trailed from start to finish and made just 14 of its 63 shots from the field or 22 percent. Hancock turned the ball over 26 times which led to 20 SBCC points. The Hancock defense forced 26 turnovers as well, which the Bulldogs cashed into 15 points. 

King, a freshman forward, had 17 points and 11 boards in the first half alone as SBCC carried a 31-23 lead into halftime. SBCC outscored Hancock 19-9 in the third quarter and 35-14 overall in the final 20 minutes to hand Hancock its biggest lost of the season.

SBCC finished with 44 rebounds and Hancock had 34. The Vaqueros held a 12-2 edge on second-chance points.

The Bulldogs will look to rebound on Saturday, Jan. 9, when they host Oxnard at 5 p.m.