Amber Melgoza poured in 50 points, and Santa Barbara High erupted for its biggest offensive night of the season, beating Summit 89-76 in a CIF Division 2AA girls basketball quarterfinal Saturday night in Fontana.
Amber Melgoza scores 50 points in CIF quarterfinal win.
With the win, the fourth-seeded Dons will host top-seeded Redondo in a semifinal game on Wednesday [EDITOR’S NOTE: Game has been rescheduled from original Tuesday date to Wednesday night]. Redondo defeated Tesoro 45-37 in another quarterfinal. The other semifinal pits Norco against Mira Costa.
Melgoza’s 50 points broke her previous single-game scoring record of 48 she set in December against Atascadero. The junior made 15 of 25 shots and was 17 of 22 from the free-throw line against Summit. She also grabbed a team-high 15 rebounds.
“They were very physical,” Dons assistant coach Jess Martinez said of Summit. “They were hammering Amber. But the thing I liked about our team was we stayed composed.”
The 89 points were the most scored by the Dons in a game this season.
And it wasn’t all Melgoza. Senior Jocelin Petatan had a big night, scoring 19 points on 7 of 11 shooting. She also had five assists, four steals and four rebounds.
“She did a great job,” raved Martinez.
Junior Jada Howard also scored in double figures with 10 points and grabbed six rebounds. Sophomore Kimberly Gebhardt had seven rebounds and five assists.
“They all did a great job helping Amber,” said Martinez.
Martinez said the Dons came out running.
“We tried to get them tired. They kept fouling us and kept bringing people in,” he said.
Martinez said Alejandra Mejia provided a spark off the bench. She came in when Gebhardt got into foul trouble and drew two charging fouls and blocked a shot.
“She was a real sparkplug for us in the second half,” Martinez said.
He noted the team’s half-court press forced turnovers, slowed Summit’s transition game and forced it to shoot from outside.
