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-American point guard Michelle Santizo on the Ventura College women's basketball team's dramatic 60-59 state quarterfinal win over Foothill Friday night at Selland Arena in Fresno.

"I'm happy we're still in it and I'm so shocked.

"They were an amazing team. I'm so glad we played them and actually beat them.

"I don't know how we survived."

Highlights from the Ventura College at Oxnard College women's basketball box score from Wednesday night:

Ventura's Erika Ward had 16 points on 5-of-8 shooting, including four 3-pointers. Donielle Griggs had 11 points on 5-of-8 shooting. Kris King had 10 points, including 6-of-6 shooting from the line, and six rebounds. Julie Heurung had seven points and eight rebounds. Michelle Santizo had nine points and four assists.

Oxnard's Sharnisha Bradley had nine points and four rebounds. Oxnard shot 12-of-40 from the field.

Click the jump for the full box. Good work by both coaching staffs to get both sides of the box up in the same night.

Sophomore Michelle Santizo had 14 points, seven rebounds and seven assists as the top-ranked Ventura College women's basketball team improved to 26-0 with a 76-39 win at Cuesta.

Erika Ward, who set a WSC record with 51 points against the Cougars on Jan. 7, was held to two points on 1-of-4 shooting.

Chanelle Brennan and Donielle Griggs had 15 points apiece and Jessi Selleh added 13 points in her return from an ankle injury.

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.

Ventura College women's basketball coach Ned Mircetic on Julie Heurung's game-trying 3-pointer, which saved the top-ranked Pirates Wednesday night in Santa Barbara:

"When I saw her shoot it, I though, 'All right,' because she can hit those. When it went in, I was really happy.

"I was going to let them take the ball in and finish it out, but then I saw us celebrating. I have visions of them scoring as we slapped hands at midcourt."

With 9.6 seconds to play and the score tied, 72-72, Mircetic was forced to take a timeout and calm his relieved players down.

"Stop celebrating!" he chided repeatedly.

"I couldn't stop hopping up and down," said point guard Michelle Santizo. "Coach had to tell me to stop."

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.

Michelle Santizo had 12 points and Julie Heurung had 11 points as the No. 1-ranked Ventura College women's basketball team improved to 14-0 with a 53-42 win at No. 14 Orange Coast Saturday afternoon in Costa Mesa.

Chanelle Brennan added 10 points and VC led the other Pirates (9-4) to 33 percent shooting.

Yet a 14th straight victory did not appease Ventura coach Ned Mircetic.

"Not after this game," said Mircetic. "We didn't play very well. We didn't play with energy or enthusiasm."

"We kind of went through the motions."

"We played well enough to win, but that's not good enough. We need to play outstanding. That's the mark of being great."

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.