Carpinteria girls basketball coach Dan Mercer called it one of his team’s best efforts of the year…and that was after a 20-point loss.
That’s how good Santa Clara is.
The Saints shot 65 percent and had eight different players score in the first half in Tuesday’s 57-37 win over the Warriors.
“They’re the No. 3 team in Division V-AA, but they would be in the top 10 in Division III or IV,” said Mercer.
Amanda Burch had one of her best games of the year according to Mercer, scoring 16 points. Caitlin Wallace had seven rebounds with nine points and Alex Steene had seven points and six boards off the bench. The Warriors nearly played even with Santa Clara after the break, losing the second half 18-17.
“In terms of effort this was actually one of our best efforts of the year considering the quality of the opponent,” said Mercer.
The Warriors host Santa Paula on Thursday.
SANTA CLARA 57, CARPINTERIA 37
CARPINTERIA — Pearce 3, Wallace 9, Burch 16, Diaz 2, Steene 7. Totals 10 8-13 37.
SANTA CLARA — Padilla 4, Whittington 6, Hernandez 10, Dunham 8, Sanchez 4, Vines 16, Pennington 4, Escamilla 5. Totals 21 6-6 57.
Carpinteria…….8 12 8 9 — 37
Santa Clara….21 18 8 10 — 57
3-point goals—C 3 (Wallace 2, Pearce 1), SC 3 (Whittington 2, Escamilla).
Total fouls —C 12, SC 14.
Team records — C 13-8, 4-3 Frontier League; SC 19-3, 7-0.
