Amber Melgoza of Santa Barbara tries to drive around two Redondo Union defenders. (Presidio Sports photos)
Santa Barbara High came so close to making a return trip to the CIF-Southern Section girls basketball finals. But the long-distance shooting of Redondo Union’s Micaela Enriquez derailed the Dons’ chance to repeat as a CIF champion.
Enriquez buried three 3-pointers in the fourth quarter, including a huge one that gave Redondo the lead for good in the last 1:12. The Dons couldn’t recover and fell 59-54 in the Division 2AA semifinal game before a roaring full house at J.R. Richards Gym on Wednesday night.
Top-seeded Redondo (23-6) advances to Saturday’s 2AA final against Bay League rival Mira Costa. No. 4-seeded Santa Barbara will wait to see if receives an at-large bid to the state tournament on Sunday. The Dons won the CIF-SS 3AA title last year and advanced to the State Tournament Division 3 final.
Santa Barbara (23-6) had a 54-53 lead when Amber Melgoza drove hard to the basket against three Redondo defenders and deftly passed the ball to Kimberly Gebhardt for a layup. The Dons got the ball back after a Redondo miss and were setting up their offense when Gebhardt was called for a moving screen with 1:19 to go. It was a big play because not only did they lose the ball but they lost Gebhardt to her fifth foul.
Redondo took possession and fed Enriquez and she swished the triple for a 56-54 advantage.
Earlier in the quarter, Enriquez hit back-to-back threes to give the Sea Hawks a 51-47 lead. She made five in the game and finished with 17 points.
“You know what? She just had the best game of her career,” Marcelo Enriquez, her coach and father, said. “She’s had a rough year. She came back from a broken collar bone suffered in July. She came back in the first week of December and she struggled with her shooting all season. And tonight was just unbelievable. I just so proud of her as a coach and a father.”
Kimberly Gebhardt takes a shot against Redondo’s Amiete Nylingita.
Santa Barbara still had plenty of time to tie the score or take the lead. But Redondo’s Nao Shiota pressured Melgoza into a turnover. Melgoza, who was battling severe cramps in her calf muscle late in the fourth quarter, fouled Shiota and she hit one of two free throws for a 57-54 lead.
Santa Barbara threw the ball away on its next possession and was forced to foul. Enriquez made two free throws to clinch the win for the Sea Hawks.
“We didn’t play well and they’re a good team and they put us in situations that hurt us,” Santa Barbara coach Andrew Butcher said. “The first half we got suckered a lot on their drives and dishes. And the second half, we lost shooters. Again, they’re a good team that put us in those situations. We want to play better.”
Melgoza, coming off a 50-point performance in the quarterfinals, finished with a game-high 26 points and 12 rebounds. Gebhardt was next with 11 points and five boards, Casandra Gordon had seven points, Jada Howard six and Jocelin Petatan four.
Redondo post player Kyra Hamlin tied Enriquez for high-scoring honors with 17 points and post player Amiete Nylingita added 12.
In the first half, Hamlin and Nylingita were recipients of some nifty passes on the back side from guards Tori Lee and Shiota, who did a good job penetrating the key.
“(Santa Barbara) just over-helped a little too much and we just wanted to attack that,” coach Enriquez said. “We saw a weakness there.”
Said Butcher: First half, we got suckered a lot on their drives and dishes. And the second half, we lost shooters.”
The Dons fell behind 21-14 after Enriquez buried her first 3-pointer of the game in the second quarter.
Then Melgoza got going. She hit a shot to start a 10-2 run and followed with a nice feed to Gebhardt. Gordon drove strong to the basket for a layup, Melgoza buried an off-balanced shot and Howard scored on a floater to give Santa Barbara a 24-23 lead.
Gebhardt converted a three-point play off a Petatan assist for a 27-25 lead. But Redondo tied the score just before halftime on an offensive rebound by Nylingita.
Redondo players Micaela Enriquez, left, and Elise Allison try to keep Amber Melgoza off the boards.
The Dons fell behind 35-29 early in the third quarter but they fought back behind the scoring of Melgoza and tied the score at 37. She scored eight straight points, including a parking-lot 3-pointer. She let out a scream after making the shot.
A steal and layup by Gordon on the press gave the Dons a 41-37 lead. At 42-39, Santa Barbara missed a layup and McKenna Peneueta fed Hamlin inside to bring Redondo to within one, 42-41, going into the final quarter.
The crowd was roaring as the lead went back and forth in final quarter. A pair of free throws and a three-point play by Melgoza gave the Dons a 47-45 lead. But Enriquez answered for Redondo with her two 3-pointers to give the Sea Hawks the lead at 51-47. Melgoza scored on a putback and then went down with leg cramps again with 4:38 left in the quarter.
Elise Allison scored inside for Redondo before the freshman Gordon scored a big 3-pointer for the Dons, pulling them to within one, 53-52, with 4:04 to go.
Melgoza fed Gebhardt for Santa Barbara’s final lead and last basket of the game at the 2:16 mark.
“They’re a real strong defensive team, that’s their strong point and you saw it today,” Butcher said of the Sea Hawks. “We didn’t have a lot of patience offensively in the second half. It’s rough. It’s hard to simulate that (in practice). They’re a very, very good defensive team and we didn’t have a lot of good looks.”
Butcher said because of their record and high ranking in the 2AA Division, the Dons might get a bid to next week’s state tournament.
Melgoza said she’s looking forward to it.
“After losing this game, I think we’re going to be real fired up for the state game,” she said.
