Santa Barbara High’s girls basketball team will face La Cañada in the second round of the CIF State Division 3 Regionals at 6 p.m. on Saturday at J.R. Richards Gym.
Meanwhile, the Dons boys will travel to West Hills to face Chaminade on Saturday for a 7:30 p.m. Division 3 Regional second-round contest. Chaminade is the top-seeded team in the division and is led by 6-9 Long Beach State-bound Jack Williams and 6-11 sophomore Trevor Stanback.
The Eagles (23-6) were in the Southern Section 3A Division with Santa Barbara but were moved into the Open Division for the section playoffs. They went 1-2 and were eliminated by Sierra Canyon in the consolation semifinals. They routed Dinuba, 74-39, in the first round of the regionals.
Santa Barbara (26-3) bounced back from its 3A semifinal loss to Oak Park, beating Eagle Rock in their state regional opener, 66-49. Jack Baker, Noah Burke and Bolden Brace led the way for the Dons.
Amber Melgoza and Desirea Coleman combined for 44 points in Santa Barbara’s 67-32 Division 3 regional win over Shafter on Wednesday.
The top-seeded Santa Barbara girls (27-5) are expecting a much tougher game against La Cañada, which got a 3-point shot in the final second to beat Eagle Rock on Wednesday.
The Spartans (24-6) were semifinalists in the section’s 3A playoffs, losing to eventual champion Santa Margarita. They are led by seniors Sarah Borland and Courtney Chen. Borland hit the game-winning shot against Eagle Rock.
Chen is a standout point guard, but she does everything for the Eagles. In the last game, she had a team-high eight rebounds, two steals and four assists, including the one on the game-winning basket. She and Borland are four-year varsity players.
In the Division 3 state rankings by MaxPreps, Santa Barbara is 9th and La Cañada is 17th.
