Playing in her last regular-season home game, Santa Barbara High senior Ivette Gil got to enjoy sweeping Buena for the first time in her career.
Gil scored 14 points and freshman Jada Howard added a career-high 12 points, leading Santa Barbara to a 51-46 victory over the Bulldogs in a Channel League girls basketball game at J.R. Richards Gym on Thursday.
Freshman Amber Melgoza grabbed 11 rebounds, including several late in the fourth quarter when the Dons erased a five-point Buena lead. She also hit two key free throws to put her team ahead by two points with with just under a minute left in the game.
Point guard Melissa Lemus sealed the win with two more free throws with just over four seconds left.
Dons coach Andrew Butcher had praise for Saralisa Ortega. The school’s golf star “played possibly her best basketball game of the season, defending and rebounding with reckless abandon,” said Butcher.
Santa Barbara, in second place in the league, is 4-2 and 17-7 overall. The Dons finish league play with road games at San Marcos on Monday and at Dos Pueblos on Wednesday.
