Indio runs down Dons in CIF quarters

Dons senior Riley Lloyd slices through a pair of Indio defenders for a first-half layup. Lloyd tallied eight points.

Tessa Emerson’s career-high 32 points was a moot point on Wednesday, as Santa Barbara High’s girls basketball team was knocked from the CIF Division II-A playoffs by Indio, 72-61, in J.R. Richards Gymnasium.

“They couldn’t stop her. Unfortunately we were down, and we couldn’t stop them,” said Dons head coach Andrew Butcher.

The Rajahs (26-2) were balanced, with five players scoring in double digits, and quick. Indio took a close game at halftime and outgunned the Dons in the third quarter by pouring in 26 points.

“We play a style that is opposite to theirs. We’re going to press and run,” said Indio head coach Martin White. “I saw that they were getting a little tired in the second quarter and I told our girls that they’re not used to our pace.”

After Sylvia Hoover opened the third quarter with a bucket for Santa Barbara, Indio took off on a 17-4 run. The Rajahs took their largest lead at 59-39 late in the third quarter.

Ivette Gil scores two of her ten points for the Dons.

“They’d be a great track team,” Butcher said.

Santa Barbara took an early lead and mostly traded baskets with Indio in the first half before entering the locker room at halftime trailing 33-27.

“It started well but then we had some lapses,” Emerson said. “It’s a bummer. It would have been so cool to win.”

The Pepperdine-bound senior added 13 rebounds to her game-high point total. Nineteen of the 32 came in the second half.

“Tess getting the ball, making layups, that’s kind of what kept us in the game,” said Dons senior Riley Lloyd, who scored eight points.

After falling behind by 20, Santa Barbara answered with an 8-0 run that overlapped into the fourth quarter and closed the gap to 12. The Dons, with the home crowd behind them, kept chipping away but ran out of time. Ivette Gil’s layup with 90 seconds left was the closest Santa Barbara got at 68-60.

Gil, a sophomore, scored 10 points for the Dons.

Jacquelynne White topped Indio’s scorers with 16 while Kamille Diaz and Randi Mullen both had 14.

The Dons finish one game shy of a 20-win season with a 19-10 record.

INDIO 72, SANTA BARBARA 61

Indio – Jacquelynne White 16, Kamille Diaz 14, Jessica Garza 3, Randi Mullen 14, Jazmin Lopez 13, Jasmonet Dew 10, Sherice Wright 2. Totals – 26 FG, 14-20 FTs, 72

Santa Barbara – Desiree Coleman 5, Tess Emerson 32, Riley Lloyd 8, Ivette Gil 10, Sylvia Hoover 2. Totals – 25 FG, 11-21 FT, 61.

Indio 18  15  26  13 – 72

SB  14  13  16  18  – 61

3-pointers – I 6 (Diaz 2, Mullen 2, Garza, White), SB 0

Dons point guard Sylvia Hoover brings the ball upcourt with teammate Desiree Coleman trailing and Indio's Kamille Diaz shadowing.