West Hills wins Ventura tournament consolation championship

The West Hills College Lemoore women's basketball team is off to an amazing start to the 2021-22 season and is 5-1 overall after going 2-1 at the Ventura College-Kiwanis Tournament of Champions over the weekend.

The Golden Eagles could easily be 6-0 but suffered a 52-49 loss to host Ventura on a deep buzzer-beating three-pointer in their opening game on Thursday. But WHCL recovered to beat Santa Monica College 85-82 on Friday and handled Cypress College 64-45 in the consolation bracket final on Saturday.

Freshman Audrey Gonzalez Alvarez was named to the all-tournament team after averaging 14 points and 11 rebounds over the three contests. In the narrow loss to Ventura, Alvarez had a monster game with 17 points and 17 rebounds.

The Golden Eagles jumped out to a 7-2 lead to open the game against the Pirates before Ventura went back out in front in the second and built a 25-19 lead over West Hills at halftime.

Over the final quarter, the two squads exchanged leads. With three seconds left, the Golden Eagles' Symya Murray made one of two free throws to tie up the game at 49-49.

But after a VC timeout, Mya Victoria sank a desperation three-pointer from beyond the arc to deny West Hills of overtime or a chance at a win.

Murray and Sade Booker-Honeycutt both scored 10 points, in support of Alvarez' big game.

The Santa Monica win saw the Golden Eagles build up a 10-point advantage, 67-57, heading into the fourth quarter. But West Hills had to withstand a late SMC rally to hold on for the victory. The Corsairs got within two points at 84-82 after a pair of free throws with 12 seconds left. But Alvarez made two free throws with five seconds remaining and Santa Monica missed a three-pointer before time expired.

Booker-Honeycutt was dominant against SMC, posting a season-high 25 points to lead all scorers. She made 10 of 19 shots in the game, including five from three-point range. Alvarez had another double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds while Amaya Sanchez came off the bench to score 12 points.

In the consolation final, the Golden Eagles opened with a 9-2 lead and was up 36-25 at halftime before cruising to the win. West Hills took advantage of 19 Cypress turnovers to convert those to 25 points.

Gabriella Matlock led the Golden Eagles with 14 points and added 7 rebounds. Alvarez nearly had another double-double, but posted 11 points, 9 rebounds, and 6 assists. And Booker-Honeycutt chipped in with 10 points.

The Golden Eagles return to tournament action on Dec. 2 when they will compete at the three-day Conoco Phillips Crossover tournament at Cuesta College in San Luis Obispo.