SANTA BARBARA — Eighteen years old.

No longer a minor achievement, the Western State Conference dominance of the Ventura College women's basketball team officially came of age Saturday night.

Freshman Michelle Santizo scored 18 points and sophomore Indira Kaljo added 13 points and seven rebounds as the Pirates clinched their 18th straight WSC North title outright with a hard-fought 79-65 win at Santa Barbara City.

Santizo, one of two Ventura starters who is younger than the program's WSC title-winning streak, had added five rebounds, five assists, six steals to her team-high scoring total, without a turnover.

Ventura (25-5) improved to 10-0 in WSC North play, three games ahead of second-place Santa Barbara (16-13, 8-3), with two games to play.

"You can't play these numbers games," said Ventura coach Ned Mircetic. "But I told them after the game, Some group is going to be the one to not continue the streak.'

"In these situations, it's good not to be the one."

Mircetic, hired as the head women's coach in 1991, was also part of WSC title-winning teams the five previous seasons as the assistant coach to former men's coach Phil Mathews.

"Twenty-three is a nice number," said Mircetic.

The Pirates confirmed the conference title at the site of Ventura's two conference losses over the past two seasons — its only two since 1995.

"That's exactly why it's such a big deal for me," said Kaljo.

This one could have gone that way as well.

"They pushed us," said Santizo. "When they came to our house, they gave up. They pushed us to the end this time."

With the game tied 57-57 with 5:58 to play, Ventura, which trailed by seven points with 13 minutes left, ripped off an 11-0 run, shutting out Santa Barbara for more than four minutes down the stretch.

"We played really well," said Mircetic, "especially after we got down."

"At that point, it felt like our whole team clicked."

Sophomore Eja Wong hit back-to-back treys to pull Ventura within 48-45. Lindsay Trout banked in a 3-pointer to give Ventura a 57-55 lead with 6:32 to play.

"We passed the ball around and by the time it got to me, we had to shoot it," said Trout.

Santizo added another trey with 3:30 to play that sealed the win.

"That's when it felt like it was over," said Santizo.

Santa Barbara scored 15 of the game's first 22 points. Behind center Brittany Collins, who made her first seven shots and had 14 points and nine rebounds in the first half, the Vaqueros led 30-25 with 1:49 left in the half.

Collins finished with 17 points and 12 rebounds before fouling out with 1:58 to play. Former Ventura High guard Ari Hendrix-Roach scored a game-high 21 points for Santa Barbara.