Jennifer Jimenez scored 14 points on Saturday as Bishop Diego’s girls basketball team used a big fourth quarter to pull away from host Carpinteria in a physical rivalry contest, 44-32.
The Cardinals took advantage of 21 Carpinteria turnovers — 17 coming via Cardinal steals — to win the fourth quarter 12-4. Bishop turned the ball over only 12 times.
“The next time we play them we’re just going to have to take better care of the ball,” said Warriors coach Dan Mercer.
Bishop coach Jeff Burich, who was dressed-to-impress in a suit, said that Dalise Spence was a big factor in the game despite tallying only two points. Spence grabbed 10 rebounds for the Cardinals.
It was a physical contest from the start, with bodies hitting the hardwood on seemingly every possession.
“That’s what we expected. We knew there was going to be a lot of pushing and shoving, and we were trying to create more space so that we weren’t going to foul as much,” said Burich, who switched between various full-court and half-court press schemes defensively throughout the game.
Carpinteria (11-7, 3-2) committed 21 fouls and gave Bishop 30 freebies at the charity stripe, but the Cardinals only made 11 of them.
Jimenez, a Carpinteria resident who grew up playing with many of the Warriors, thus gave an appropriate answer when asked what it will take if Bishop is to have a shot at hanging tough with league-favorite Santa Clara:
“Make more free throws,” she said with a smile.
Jimenez made a nice drive to the hoop for a score with 1:13 left in the first half, and Allison Breuer used a post move to get open for an easy shot just moments later to put Bishop ahead 22-16 with 40 seconds left. Carpinteria’s Jaclyn Guerrero swished a baseline jumper at the buzzer, however, to take back some of the momentum heading into the second half.
Heather Aijian hit the game’s only 3-pointer at the 5-minute mark of the third period, pushing the Bishop lead to seven at 27-20, but Carpinteria responded with back-to-back buckets from Myriah Diaz and Nicole Pearce.
Aijian grabbed a steal which led to a Jimenez lay-up to push the lead to 32-24 with two minutes to go in the third, but Carpinteria responded once again with two straight baskets, the second coming on a coast-to-coast drive by Amanda Burch just before the end of the quarter.
Carpinteria did its best to press the Cardinals in the fourth quarter, but Bishop broke through and got to the hoop while also forcing Warrior turnovers to pull away.
Burch finished with 14 points, while Pearce added nine. Caitlin Wallace was held to three points but grabbed five steals for the Warriors.
The win gives the Cardinals sole possession of second place in the Frontier League.
BISHOP DIEGO 44, CARPINTERIA 32
BISHOP DIEGO — Perez 6, Breuer 4, Houston 3, Aijian 7, Kohler 4, Stimson 4, Spence 2, Jimenez 14. Totals 16 11-30 44.
CARPINTERIA — Pearce 9, Wallace 3, Burch 14, Diaz 4, Guerrero 2. Totals 11 10-15 32.
Bishop Diego…11 11 10 12 — 44
Carpinteria…….4 14 10 4 — 32
3-point goals — BD 1 (Aijian).
Total fouls — BD 18, C 21.
Fouled out — None.
Technicals — Houston.
Team records — BD 11-7, 3-1, C 11-7, 3-2.
(Photos by Blake Dorfman/PresidioPics. To order prints, e-mail [email protected])
