It’s been a long time since the Santa Barbara High girls basketball team has been in the hunt for a league title this late in the season.
How long, you ask?
According to coach Andrew Butcher, it was in 1988, the last time the Dons won the Channel League.
The way Santa Barbara played Tuesday night against Dos Pueblos, it looks primed and ready to battle Ventura and Buena for the championship.
Rebecca Griffin celebrated Senior Night by pouring in 25 points and the Dons had their transition offense running in peak form as they blew out the Chargers 71-38 at J.R. Richards Gym.
The win sets up a showdown at Channel League co-leader and defending champion Ventura on Thursday. Ventura is the No. 2 team in CIF Div. II-AA.
“It’ll be exciting,” Butcher promised. “I can’t predict what will happen except we’ll show up.”
The Dons (19-5, 5-1 in Channel League) came out flying from the start against the all-sophomore DP squad and roared out to a 24-14 lead in the first quarter. Griffin got things rolling with two 3-pointers and an assist to Jackie Kearns on a fast break after a DP miss.
“It was a combination,” DP coach Maynard Pilapil said of how the Dons dismantled his team. “They were killing us in transition — their front court is very, very fast — and Becca on her senior night went off from the arc.
“We had a poor field goal percentage and failed to get back in transition, and leaving their best shooter open leads to a big loss like this.”
Butcher was delighted with his team’s first-quarter performance.
“They showed up,” he said. “We’ve been having real slow first quarters, so it was great to have a first quarter where we actually came out strong.”
Griffin was the catalyst for the quick-striking Dons. She scored 18 points in the first half.
“She’s had a lot of great games this year and we’re kind of used to seeing her play like that,” Butcher said of the senior point guard. “She’s a terrific player and she’s gotten a lot quicker this year. She’s got some explosiveness.”
In addition to her scoring, Butcher was pleased to see Griffin dish out six assists.
Griffin, one of six seniors recognized before the game, said she made it a point not to hold anything back in her final regular season game at home.
“It was like, ‘Maybe this could be my last game on this court,’ so you give it your all because you’re a senior,” she said.
All six seniors scored for Santa Barbara.
After Griffin, Kearns tallied 12 points and grabbed seven rebounds, six on the offensive glass, and Siondra Pereyra, who burned DP defenders with her quick first step, scored 10 points and hauled in seven rebounds.
“She’s played well in the second round of league,” said Butcher of Pereyra. “She’s aggressive on the boards and she’s aggressive offensively. She’s solid.”
The Dons, capitalizing on DP’s 9-for-32 shooting in the first half, ran their lead to 41-22 by halftime.
“We want to run in transition mostly to break presses,” Butcher explained. “If we can get the ball out of the hoop before it hits the ground and get it up the court, it takes away full-court pressure and, of course, secondary, we want to score.”
The Chargers’ cold shooting continued in the third quarter and Santa Barbara kept kept scoring in transition to go up 54-29 after three quarters.
DP (11-13, 1-5) did have some bright spots. Jasmine Mata scored 17 points and Jessica Escalante played in her first game since suffering a knee injury back in early December. She finished with seven points, including an impressive scoop shot to finish a length-of-the-court drive in the fourth quarter.
“She’s missed 16 games,” Pilapil said of Escalante, who wore a brace on the right knee she injured in the eighth game of the season. “We wanted to monitor her minutes. We wanted to test her for about three-to-four minutes a quarter and see how (the knee) feels. She’s been practicing. I don’t know how hard she wants to push it, but it was good to see her back on the floor.”
Butcher said he was glad to see Escalante playing again.
“She’s such a talent and it looked like she was moving well. (DP) is going to be really solid in two more years.”
The Dons are in the moment right now, and they’re excited about Thursday’s rematch against Ventura.
“Ventura hammered us the last game,” Butcher said. “We switched a lot of positions after that game and we haven’t lost since. So, we’ll see if putting different people in different positions pays off. Ventura is real solid, but these are great kids. They’ll have a great practice (Wednesday) and they’ll show up Thursday.”
SANTA BARBARA 71, DOS PUEBLOS 38
DOS PUEBLOS — Mata 17, DeMarco 2, Gowdy 3, Draper 4, Hilton 5, Escalante 7. Totals 16 0-8 38.
SANTA BARBARA — Figueroa 1, Gil 6, Lloyd 4, Griffin 25, Cervantes 2, Hoover 2, Hernandez 2, Emerson 7, Pereyra 10, Kearns 12, Echternacht 0. Totals 26 14-23 71.
Dos Pueblos…14 8 7 9 — 38
Santa Barbara…24 17 13 18 — 71
3-point goals—DP 6 (Mata 3, Gowdy, Escalante, Hilton), SB 5 (Griffin 5). Total fouls—DP 14, SB 10. Records—DP 11-13, 1-5 Channel League; SB 19-5, 5-1.
