You had to bring your lunch pail and hard hat if you wanted to play in the Gold Division semifinals of the Santa Barbara Tournament of Champions on Monday night.
Both games featured tough defensive play, making baskets tough to come by. When the final horn sounded for the night at J.R. Richards Gym, Ventura and Sierra Canyon punched their tickets to Tuesday night’s championship game.
Ventura squeaked out a 35-31 victory over Oaks Christian, while Sierra Canyon muscled its way past a rugged Redondo Union, 50-41.
Earlier, Santa Barbara cut a 20-point second-half deficit to three points but couldn’t overtake Carondelet and suffered a 75-69 defeat in a seventh-place semifinal game.
The Dons play Vista Murrieta for ninth place at 12:30 p.m. at San Marcos High.
In the Green Division, top-seeded Fairmont Prep will play Poway for the championship at 6 p.m. at Santa Barbara High.
Samantha Clement poured in 28 points and Tristen Rollon scored 21 to lead Fairmont Prep past Edison 66-53 in one semifinal game. In a battle of San Diego Section schools, Poway outscored Montgomery 17-6 in the fourth quarter to win the other semifinal, 48-44. Serena Johnson scored 12 points and Shanel Jamison add 10 for the Titans.
GOLD SEMIFINALS
A 3-pointer by Savannah Page in the final seconds of the third quarter gave Ventura a lead (23-22) it would never give up. Barbara Rangel scored 13 ponts and Riley Mew tallied seven to lead the Cougars. Sydney Beyer’s 15 points and Katie Campbell’s nine paced Oaks Christian.
Baskets were hard to come by in the game as both teams played solid man-to-man defense. The key for Ventura was the presence of the 6-3 Rangel inside. She scored back-to-back baskets — the second off a nifty assist from Aubrey Knight — to give the Cougars a 32-26 lead with 1:13 left in the game.
Sierra Canyon’s dynamic duo of Cheyanne Wallace and Kennedy Burke combined for 37 points and 30 rebounds to lead the defending champion Trailblazers back into the championship game. Both players took a pounding against a physical Redondo team and got to the free throw line. Wallace made 9 of 12 free throws and Burke sank 7 of 10.
Sierra Canyon led throughout, but Redondo stayed within striking distance behind the play of Kyra Hamlin (14 points) and Nao Shiota (11 points). A steal and layup by Hamlin cut the Trailblazers’ lead to five, 46-41, with 34 seconds left.
But Sierra Canyon (8-0) broke Redondo’s press and Wallace found Alexis Griggsby for an open shot to put it up by seven with 28 seconds remaining. The Seahawks missed on their next possession and fouled Wallace, who sank both free throws.
Wallace led all scorers with 21 points and grabbed 17 boards.
CARONDELET 75, SANTA BARBARA 69
Jada Howard scored a career-high 26 points, 20 in a second-half surge by Santa Barbara, but the Dons came up short against Concord Carondelet.
Santa Barbara gave up nine straight points to start the second quarter, six of them coming on offensive rebounds, and standout Amber Melgoza picked up her third foul. The Dons trailed 39-26 at the half.
“The first half we didn’t rebound, we turned the ball over like crazy and we couldn’t get into an offense, so I don’t know how were down only 13,” Santa Barbara coach Andrew Butcher said. “The basketball gods were with us.”
The deficit grew to 20 points (50-30) early in the third quarter when Carondelet’s Katie Rathbun hit a 3-pointer.
The Howard went to work. She converted a three-point play and followed with two more baskets off assists from Kimberly Gebhardt and Liliana Ponce.
Howard went on another six-point run in the quarter, hitting a pair of free throws, a basket off a fast break and a layup off a cross-court pass from Melgoza. That cut Carondelet’s lead to nine, 54-45. Melgoza, who also scored 26 points, became more of a distributor in the second half.
“The better teams try to take her away, so we trying to get her to pass the ball and make the assist,” Butcher said. “If they take that away, then she can get it back. It’s a new role for her.”
Melgoza fed Sophia Torres inside for a basket and Jocelin Petatan picked up a loose ball and scored to pull the Dons within four, 61-57, with 5:19 left.
Rathbun, who was held to three points in a loss to Redondo, came up huge for Carondelet against the Dons. She buried her third 3-pointer and added another basket to push the Cougars’ lead to 68-59. The 6-foot-1 Rathbun, one of eight players 6-foot and over on the roster, scored 15 points. Six-foot-1 Kim Savio had 13 points and Marcella Hughes added 12.
Santa Barbara (9-2) kept the pressure on the taller Cougars. A layup by Melgoza brought the Dons to within four again at 70-66. Melgoza made one of two free throws to make it 70-67 and that’s as close as they got.
Carondelet’s Vanessa Cruz fed Fiona Dolan for a layup, and Santa Barbara turned the ball over on its next possession. The Dons started fouling and Cruz and Dolan made free throws to seal the win.
Despite the loss, Butcher liked how his team fought back in the second half.
“We didn’t win but we got everything out of the game we could ask for,” he said. “We got improvement, we got different situations that we haven’t had to deal with, or should have dealt with on Saturday but didn’t.
“It was a real good game for us. But, you got to make good decisions, you got to play fundamentally correct; we missed three free throws and had two turnovers at the very end (we didn’t jump stop) — the little things. What’s the saying? ‘The devil is in the detail.’ If we get the little things, we got a shot.
“I was really proud of the girls for coming back,” he added. “The defense got better, the rebounding got better.”
SANTA MONICA 50, BISHOP DIEGO 40
The Cardinals jumped out to a 10-0 lead, but Santa Monica stepped up its pressure on defense, forced turnovers and took over the game.
“We made uncharacteristic turnovers, they made open shots and we missed open shots,” said Bishop Diego coach Jeff Burich. “Credit Santa Monica, they put us in some uncomfortable situations. We need to do a better job of passing, seeing the pressure and breaking it.”
Hannah Rogers and Jordyn Lilly each scored 16 points for the Cardinals (6-3).
