Holly Emerson Ford received a framed Dons jersey with her number 23 on it at halftime of Thursday's Santa Barbara-San Marcos game.
Santa Barbara High’s girls basketball team owned the third quarter against San Marcos on Thursday, a far-cry from a competitive first half in a game that the Dons ended up winning 55-38.
The victory came on the same night Dons legend Holly Ford (Now Holly Emerson) had her jersey retired at halftime, becoming the first female athlete to have her number on the walls of J.R. Richards Gym.
“It’s great. The school doesn’t take this stuff lightly for any sport. I really think she’s fitting and deserved,” said Andrew Butcher, the Dons’ current head coach who coached Ford on the JV team as a freshman, then two more years on varsity.
“She scored a lot of points. I don’t think she shot a bad shot in three years. She had a lot of assists, she had a lot of rebounds. I mean, she was a bonafide great player.”
Emerson went on to star at national powerhouse USC, playing alongside hall-of-famer Cheryl Miller. Emerson joins brother Don Ford, who played for the Lakers, Victor Bartolome and Jamaal Wilkes as the only basketball players to have their jerseys retired at Santa Barbara.
Tess Emerson is the latest in the family to carry the basketball torch, leading the Dons on Thursday with 17 points. The Pepperdine-bound senior scored all 17 after a first quarter in which San Marcos grabbed a 15-7 lead.
Emily Dietz scored five of her 10 points to start the Royals out on the right track. San Marcos held the lead until Sylvia Hoover’s nice cross-over and pull-up jumper evened the score at 17-17 with two minutes left in the half. The Dons took a slight 22-20 lead into halftime.
Santa Barbara then scored the first 16 points of the third quarter, ruining the Royals’ strong half. The Dons were up by double digits the entire fourth quarter even though the Royals played them even.
SANTA BARBARA 55, SAN MARCOS 38
San Marcos 15 5 2 16 — 38
Santa Barbara 7 15 18 15 — 55
San Marcos — Hodges 2, Sandoval 2, Porter-Ray 10, Dietz 10, Rodriguez 6, Escobar 8.
Santa Barbara — Gil 11, Emerson 17, Echternacht 7, Hoover 5, Lloyd 3, Coleman 12
