Police caught the man who robbed Victoria Market last week, but there was plenty of theft going on two blocks away at Santa Barbara High Friday night.
The Dons’ girls basketball team collected 15 steals in a back-and-forth, fast-break bonanza against St. Francis that resulted in a 55-44 win to open Green Division play in the Tournament of Champions.
Santa Barbara was running wild the whole game, getting outlet passes to Rebecca Griffin, who pushed the ball downcourt time after time. There wasn’t much time for a half-court offense.
“Our main thing is to rebound hard, run the fast break and try to get it to Rebecca because she sees the floor the best,” said Brandi Blackwell, who tallied 11 points and 13 boards in the game. Griffin scored a team-high 13 on the night with eight assists.
“That’s the trick.
We do an organized fast-break and play a lot of players,” said Dons coach Andrew Butcher. “We just try to tire the other team out. They had a long bus trip, and I think the fatigue got to them in the second half even though they were a strong team.”
Butcher even pulled a five-player platoon substitution late in the third to keep legs extra fresh.
With increased tempo, of course, comes increased risk of mistakes, and the Dons turned the ball over 21 times. But they kept ahead of the visitors from up north for the entire game.
“I guess sometimes when you push the ball so hard, you end up making more mistakes at the end,” said Blackwell.
The deep and experienced Dons are off to a stellar 8-1 start, so the speed-first strategy seems to be working just fine. It certainly didn’t hurt that they hit 14 or their 19 free-throw attempts. including 4-of-5 in the final minute. Griffin hit a pair with 43 ticks left, Larissa Lavender did the same with 21 seconds to go, and Blackwell made one of her two with nine seconds remaining.
She made up for the miss with a game-ending block.
Tess Emerson chipped in 11 points for the Dons and applied solid pressure in Santa Barbara’s full-court press.
The win sets up a meeting with defending Green-Division champion St. Joseph at on Saturday. The Knights feature last year’s MVP, Ane McPike, whom Butcher described as the county’s best player.
Another matchup between the teams will be between the signature mustaches of Butcher and Knights coach Ron Barba.
“I’d have to say his is better because it’s one solid color,” said Butcher, who’s got just a touch of gray mixed in with his.
Tip-off is set for 4 p.m.
(photos by Blake Dorfman/PresidioPics. To order prints e-mail [email protected])
SANTA BARBARA 55, ST. FRANCIS 44
ST. FRANCIS—McGraw 4, D’Amico 3, Reischl 15, Pendani 4, Lucian 2, Prince 3, Madigan 5, Johnson 2, Iyer 6. Totals 17 4-10 44.
SANTA BARBARA—Blackwell 11, Griffin 13, Lavender 7, Crispin-Ibarra 2, Kerns 5, Boscacci 6. Totals 20 14-19 55.
St. Francis…………9 15 6 4 — 44
Santa Barbara…17 11 10 17 — 55
3-point goals—SF 4 (Reischl 3, Prince 1), SB 1 (Griffin).
Total fouls—SF 17, SB 10.
