Lady Bears lost four of their last five games and are on a 1-4 stretch 

The John Burroughs Lady Bears continued their rough stretch as they got blown out by the Ventura Lady Cougars 64-39 and have lost four of their last five games. Burroughs was fresh off a heartbreaking 83-90 overtime loss to Valencia this past Saturday, a game in which they were up by 12 through three-quarters of play. Ventura came into the contest with a 64-50 win over Louisville last Friday. 

The Lady Cougars began the first quarter by going on an 11-2 scoring run with Emily Rea doing the heavy lifting for the offense in that run. Izzy Amoroso stopped the scoring run by scoring a three-point basket to make it a six-point contest. Bella Amayakyan made a three-point basket to cut the Ventura lead to three and the Lady Bears ended the first quarter on a 4-0 scoring run in hopes of gaining momentum in the contest. 

Rea and Valentina Morales traded points to begin the second quarter and Jessica Mena nailed down a three-point basket to put the Lady Bears within one point. Kailee Staniland regained momentum for the Lady Cougars with a three-point shot to give Ventura a 17-13 lead. The Lady Cougars continued to exert control on the contest throughout the second quarter and led by 10 points to end the first half, including a three-pointer from Rea at the buzzer. 

The Lady Bears were hoping to flip the script in the second half, looking to make a big comeback, but the Lady Cougars continued to make it a one-sided contest throughout the second half. Jasmine Messina and Kaiya Cooke began the third quarter with back-to-back buckets with Cooke also nailing both of her foul shots at the free-throw line. Mariam Fahs made a two-point layup to get the Lady Bears on the board in the third quarter. Ventura had doubled their advantage, leading 52-31 heading into the final quarter. 

Fahs and Staniland both traded points to begin the fourth quarter. Fahs made one of two shot attempts at the foul line while Stainland made a three to help give Ventura a 55-32 lead. Rea made it back-to-back threes with Staniland when she connected from distance to give the Lady Cougars a 58-32 lead.  Rea led the Lady Cougars with 27 points and Mena had a solid night, leading the Lady Bears with 12 points. 

Burroughs falls to 8-6 and Ventura improves to 12-1 on the season. The Lady Bears will look to end 2024 on a positive note and try to get out of a 1-4 stretch on the final day of the West Coast Holiday Tournament against Arleta with tip-off scheduled for 4:30 p.m. Ventura will return to action in the new year with a home contest against San Marcos on Tuesday, January 7th slated for 7:00 p.m.