The bittersweet taste was written on Donielle Griggs' face.

One of the leaders of the 2008-09 Ventura College women's basketball team, which won its first 34 games before falling in the Final Four to Pasadena City, Griggs, now a player at Cal Lutheran, was of course on hand to root for her former teammates in Sunday's state championship game.

She was on the court taking photographs during the net-cutting ceremony.

"It was amazing," said Griggs, who had spoken to former point guard Michelle Santizo on the phone. Santizo and Julie Heurung followed the game during their end-of-season banquet at Cal State Monterey Bay.

But Sunday's experience as a fan had also reminded Griggs of what might have been.

"It brought back memories," said Griggs. "We were one step away."

Of course, several Pirates mentioned that the previous year's experience was a big contributing factor on this year's state championship run.

Members of the coaching staff harkened back to the successful recruiting of Royal High guard Jessi Selleh as the key event that enabled a program which lost three straight playoff games from 2004 to 2006 to return to its former glory.

Selleh, now a student at UCLA, having turned down the opportunity to play at Cornell because of financial considerations, was instrumental in the recruiting of fellow Royal High teammates Erika Ward and Kris King.

"I didn't know anything about Ventura College until Jessi Selleh told me about it," said Ward Sunday. "I wasn't even thinking about going here."

The 106 points Pasadena City scored Saturday night in its 106-93 state semifinal win over the Ventura College women's basketball team represented just the second time this decade that the Pirates allowed 100 points in a game.

It was a rough way to finish for a sophomore class that took a program that hadn't reached the Great Eight in four years and nearly brought it all the way back to a state title.

"They've taken something that was pretty good to begin with and made it significantly better across a broad front," said coach Ned Mircetic. "This year, with me coaching two teams, they had to do more on their own and they didn't skip a beat.

"It would be hard pressed at any level to find a more mature group of kids. The only issue we had this year was Pasadena's hot hand (Saturday). And they handled that well, too. They played hard. They played with dignity."

Lost in the end of the 34-game winning streak was just how far the team had come in the sophomore's tenure, that began with Jessi Selleh's arrival from Royal High in 2006 and continued with the class of Michelle Santizo, Julie Heurung, Donielle Griggs and Christine McPherson in 2007.

"Selleh being here really stabilized the program and has really made recruiting easier," said Mircetic. "They played their hearts out all year long. I don't have a single complaint."

The Ventura College women's basketball team made 7-of-16 3-pointers in Friday night's 60-59 state quarterfinal win over Foothill and every one was huge, considering:

1. Ventura trailed 13-3 when Erika Ward buried a 25-footer from the Foothill coaches' box for the Pirates' first field goal 8:39 into the game.

2. Three additional 3-pointers by Ward and Selleh accounted for nine of Ventura's final 18 points of the first half.

3. Selleh's right wing 3 with three seconds left in the half gave Ventura an unlikely 25-23 halftime lead.

4. The four combined 3s by Selleh and Ward, two apiece, accounted for 12 of Ventura's 25 points in the first half.

5. After a 12-2 run to open the second half gave Foothill a 35-27 lead, Ventura clawed back to within 39-38 on the back of a pair of Amanda Padilla 3-pointers.

6. Ventura's final field goal of the game was Michelle Santizo's corner 3-pointer with three minutes to play, which gave Ventura its largest lead of the night, 58-55, and put the Pirates in position to grind out the win in the final minutes on single free throws by Chanelle Brennan and Julie Heurung.

All-State forward Jessi Selleh on the Ventura College women's basketball team's dramatic 60-59 state quarterfinal win over Foothill Friday night at Selland Arena in Fresno.

"They're the best team we've played all year," said Selleh. "On paper, it would have been no match. It just wouldn't have added up to a win."

"That was the most physical game we've played all year."

Community college women's basketball

Jessi Selleh: Strength in a Broken Heart by Joe Curley

Ventura College sophomore guard Jessi Selleh on the top-ranked and unbeaten Ventura College women's basketball being seeded No. 2 in the Southern California regional playoffs:

"We're not happy that we're being snubbed for something that we deserve. It's a universal feeling among the girls."

Ventura defeated Mount SAC, 65-43, in the final of the VC-Kiwanis Tournament of Champions Nov. 30 and 71-54 in the final of the Gilcrest Invitational on Dec. 7.

"I think it would be one thing if we didn't beat the team that was seeded No. 1, but the fact that we played them and we beat them twice says something.

"Going undefeated is hard enough. You get stripped of something when you're not in the place that you should be."

Jessi Selleh, the starting small forward on the Ventura College women's basketball team, will sit out tonight's game against Oxnard with the ankle injury she suffered in Wednesday night's win over Santa Barbara City.

"I'm out," said Selleh, sitting in the stands with a wrap on her ankle before the game. "Why does basketball have to be so difficult?"

The dramatic ending wasn't the only scare the Ventura College women's basketball team and its fans received Wednesday night in Santa Barbara.

Sophomore Jessi Selleh collapsed in a heap under the Vaqueros' basket early in the second half and had to be carried off the court by assistant coach Robin Hester after suffering an ankle injury.

But the former Royal High star, who missed all but six games of last season with a back injury, doesn't seem a threat to miss many games.

"It's just a little swollen," said Selleh, while on crutches after the game. "Coach just said to get ready for Saturday (against Oxnard)."

Conventional wisdom after the Ventura College women's basketball team somehow survived Wednesday night's annual trip to Santa Barbara City, 84-81, in overtime was the the top-ranked PIrates, who had been crushing conference opposition by 46.7 points per game and had only been played to a single-digit final score twice in 22 games, will be better off for experiencing the close game.

Leading by 14 points with 16 minutes to play, Ventura certainly was shaky down the stretch, missing free throws (20 of 38), layups and being outrebounded (44 to 38). But somehow the Pirates learned the lesson and still won the game.

"I love it," said center Julie Heurung. "I absolutely love it, because it gets us ready for games later in the season... Once we get into the playoffs, we're going to have games like these. We have to learn how to manage the clock."

I think it's going to make us a better team," said point guard Michelle Santizo. "I think we needed it. This is a lesson learned."

Ventura hadn't trailed in the second half since Cypress' visit to Ventura Dec. 19, eight games ago.

"No team has really put pressure on us this year," said guard Erika Ward. "We'll learn from this experience."

Sophomore Jessi Selleh, sitting helplessly on the bench after injuring her ankle, called the game "a white knuckler."

Coach Ned Mircetic called it an "invaluable" experience.

"You can't simulate that in practice," said Mircetic.

Four games into WSC North play, the Ventura College women's basketball team has had five players score 20 or more points.

Jan. 7 vs. Cuesta -- Erika Ward (51) and Chanelle Brennan (20)
Jan. 10 at Pierce -- Brennan (26) and Michelle Santizo (25)
Jan. 17 vs. Moorpark -- Brennan (29) and Donielle Griggs (20)
Jan. 21 at Santa Barbara City -- Julie Heurung (24)

That's four starters (Ward, Santizo, Griggs, Heurung) and a reserve (Brennan), who happens to lead the team in scoring.

Your move, Jessi Selleh, the fifth starter, who has scored 20 or more points eight times in her VC career.

After her MVP performance in the Gilcrest Invitational, Ventura sophomore Jessi Selleh made a proclaimation:

"Ventura is back. Beating Mount SAC twice by a substantial margin... says something about us and our coaches. I'm excited to see what the rest of the year is going to bring."

Ventura went to seven state finals from 1996 to 2002, winning five state championships. The Pirates reached the state tournament for the first time in five years last March.

Ventura coach Ned Mircetic didn't quite agree with his sophomore:

"Well, Ventura never left. We've won league 18 years in a row. We've won over 20 games every year. Our kids graduate, we were sixth in the country in GPA.

"Just because you don't win the last game doesn't mean that something's wrong.
We didn't go anywhere.

"It's important for us this year not to rest on the past couple weeks, but to continue looking ahead."

"You can't win the state every year. You can't maintain that because the other teams change.

Thursday night, Jessi Selleh left the College of the Sequoias gymnasium in an ambulance, strapped to a backboard.

Four nights later, Selleh left the heralded 16-team Gilcrest Invitational with the tournament's championship and Most Valuable Player trophies.

"From an extreme low to MVP, it's pretty exciting," said Selleh, who averaged 14.3 points in the three wins after she collided with teammate Michelle Santizo as she drove to the basket in Thursday's win over Sequoias.

"Once I had gotten on the stretcher, I knew I was OK," said Selleh, who missed all but six games last season with a back injury.

Strapped to her hospital bed late Thursday, Selleh made coach Ned Mircetic promise to play her Friday if she was cleared by doctor's tests.

"I refused to not play," said Selleh. "I didn't come all the way up here to watch my teammates play.

"I've spent enough time sitting on the sidelines being hurt... There's too much excitement going on for me to be in pain."

The top-ranked Ventura College women's basketball team will face No. 9 Fresno City Saturday night in the semifinals of the heralded Gilcrest Invitational in Visalia.

Fresno ended the Pirates' 2007-08 season 70-64 in the state quarterfinals March 13 in Stockton.

"We need to play with much more energy than we did tonight," said Ventura coach Ned Mircetic after the team's 83-69 win over Cerritos Friday. "If we don't, tomorrow could be a very unsatisfying experience."

Mircetic noted Fresno coach Brian Tessler in the stands at College of the Sequoias.

"He was there the whole game taking notes," said Mircetic. "Probably saying 'We have an easy one tomorrow.' "

Ventura sophomores were a mixed bag when asked about the Fresno rematch.

"Yeah, the sophomores are (excited)," said guard Jessi Selleh, who was injured for last year's playoff game. "I want a crack at 'em, too!"

"Oh yes!" said forward Donielle Griggs.

"Not really," said center Julie Heurung. "It's just another game that we need to come and play."

The Ventura College women's basketball team, ranked No. 2 in the state preseason poll, opens its season 6 p.m. tonight against El Camino College at the VC Athletic Event Center.

The Pirates return starting point guard Michelle Santizo and starting center Julie Heurung, as well as 2006-07 honorable mention All-American Jessi Selleh, who missed last season with a back injury.

The debut of heralded recruit Erika Ward, another Royal High product, the game will be first of many this season broadcast online at http://www.HomefieldSports.com.

The game will also reunite the VC coaching staff with former assistant coach Reggie Ellis, who spent six years with the Pirates before moving south and joining the staff at the Torrance school.

Looking for a preview for the upcoming women's basketball season?

The Ventura College women's basketball team will be hosting 23 other teams from around the state in its second annual Ventura Scrimmage Saturday from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.

The field includes four of last March's Great Eight, six reigning conference champions and 11 playoff teams.

Ventura, featuring freshman point guard Erica Ward, will scrimmage Los Positas at 10 a.m., Cypress at 12 p.m. and Fullerton at 4 p.m.

The event also features the return to action of former All-American Jessi Selleh, who sat out last season with a back injury.