Amber Melgoza scored 21 points in Santa Barbara’s win over St. Joseph in the Gold Coast Classic. (Presidio Sports photo)
Jocelin Petatan showed Friday the kind of impact she can make for the Santa Barbara High girls basketball team.
A transfer from Dos Pueblos, Petatan played a stellar overall game in helping the Dons defeat St. Joseph, 61-46, to advance to Saturday night?s championship game of the Gold Coast Classic.
Petatan scored 12 points, grabbed seven rebounds and had 10 steals. More importantly, she contained St. Joseph?s top player Kaitlyn Flowers. Flowers scored just nine points.
?She does a great job,? Santa Barbara coach Andrew Butcher said of Petatan. ?For some reason we weren?t interested in playing today, but she played hard the whole time, every second. She was gold today.?
Petatan did a good job running the floor and getting herself open for high percentage shots. She scored eight of her points in the second half, when the Dons blew the game open.
The Dons (6-1) got off to a fast start in the first half, opening up a 12-2 lead. St. Joseph coach Ed Torres pulled his starters and the second unit stepped up and battled back.
Jada Howard scored 15 points for the Dons.
Santa Barbara managed to keep the lead and went into halftime with a 26-21 advantage.
The Dons picked up their play in the second half. They went on an 8-2 run to start the third quarter, with Amber Melgoza scoring five of the points and Dezzy Coleman knocking down a 3-pointer
A Jada Howard 3-pointer ignited an 8-0 run at the start of the fourth quarter, putting Santa Barbara comfortably ahead, 51-35.
?It was a solid second half,? Butcher said. ?We?re still struggling against the zone. In the first half, we were 7 for 31 (shooting). The second half was a lot better.?
Melgoza led four Dons in double figures with 21 points. Howard sored 15 points and Coleman added 10.
Syenna Ramirez scored 17 points to lead St. Joseph (4-2).
