Bishop Diego's Charlie Fling reaches to get one of her nine blocks on Monday night. (John Dvorak/Presidio Sports)
Monday’s fourth quarter at Carpintieria High was a high-intensity clash between the Warriors and crosstown rival Bishop Diego, but the Cardinals took over in the final three minutes to secure the win.
Bishop Diego’s 40-33 non-league victory was anything but a sure bet heading into the fourth quarter with the Cardinals clinging to a 30-28 lead.
But the Cardinals made their free throws down the stretch and a pressing defense gave the Warriors problems when it counted most.
What had been a back-and-forth struggle for three and a half quarters saw Bishop inch away from the Warriors in the final two minutes.
Bishop Diego collected 12 steals as a team in the game and junior Charlie Fling recorded nine blocks and four steals on her own.
“I mean, we wanted it,” Fling said. “Just the passion is probably what got us through there and knowing what we needed to do and doing it.”
Bishop also benefitted by its performance at the free throw line down the stretch. The Cardinals were clinging to a 30-29 lead with less than three minutes left in the game and Greer Shull and Josie McCoy connected on 6-of-6 free-throw attempts to close out the game.
“That’s the one thing this team can do, we don’t play the same type of intensity of defense yet, but we definitely can shoot freethrows better than anyone else,” said Cardinals head coach Jeff Burich.
Bishop converted 19 of its 24 attempts at the charity stripe, while the Warriors failed to make 7 of their 10 free throws.
Madison Ballard led all scorers with 12 points for Bishop.
“She’s like the Energizer Bunny out there,” Burich said.
Elena Schneider led Carpinteria with 11 points and Juli Cullins contributed eight.
The outcome snapped a three-game losing streak for Bishop (5-4) but also snapped a three-game winning streak for the Warriors.
Presidio Sports will publish a photo gallery from this game on Tuesday.
BISHOP DIEGO 40, CARPINTERIA 33
Bishop Diego – McCoy 6, Shull 11, Jenkins 7, Ballard 12, Garcia 4
Carpinteria – Burch 2, Lugo 8, Cullins 8, Saito 2, Zapata 2, Schneider 11.
BD 15 8 5 12 – 40
C 12 10 4 7 – 33
3-pointers – BD 2 (Shull, Ballard), C 2 (Lugo, Schneider)
