Assistant coach Jen Sorosky had a perfect proverb for the Santa Barbara girls basketball team during a timeout in the final minutes of Tuesday night’s game at Dos Pueblos:
“There’s nothing better than stealing a game that you don’t deserve to win.”
Whether the Dons deserved it or not, they pulled out a 47-44 victory over the Chargers after trailing for the entire game. It was a big letdown for DP, a team of seven players, five of which are freshmen. And when the Chargers’ youth showed itself thanks to a streak of turnovers in the final minutes, the more-experienced Dons were ready to seize the opportunity.
“DP deserved to win that game, but we came out and got a couple of steals and got lucky,” said a relieved Santa Barbara coach Andrew Butcher.
Rebecca Griffin scored 13 points and Brandi Blackwell added 12 for Santa Barbara, which didn’t take the lead until Griffin hit a 3-pointer with 56 seconds left to make it 45-44.
“Obviously it’s very disappointing to come out with a loss. My team played extremely well for about 31 minutes,” said DP coach Maynard Pilapil. “Santa Barbara’s very deep, and they did a good job of wearing us down.”
Freshman Sara Sessler was outstanding for the Chargers, scoring 11 points while grabbing 10 rebounds and six blocks.
“This has definitely been one of my best games. I was really disappointed with how it ended, but I thought everyone played really well during the rest of the game,” said the youngster. “I love playing defense.”
Dos Pueblos’ transition game was smooth as silk from the get-go, and there were plenty of opportunities for fast breaks. Not because of turnovers (the Dons committed only 10), but because Santa Barbara struggled from the floor, shooting 17-for-63.
“They killed us in transition, and nobody’s done that to us yet,” said Butcher.
But the Dons picked up more of the freebies, going 10-for-18 from the charity stripe while DP struggled, making four of 12.
Freshman sensation Jessica Escalante ended up with 10 points for the Chargers, well below her average, but converted a big 3-point play to put the Chargers up 44-39 with 2:50 left. Unfortunately for the Chargers, it would be their last points of the night.
Blackwell grabbed a steal and passed it to Griffin, who found Tess Emerson for a close-range shot that pulled the Dons within two at 44-42 with just over a minute left. Griffin hit the big 3-pointer and then swished a pair of free throws to close out the night’s scoring. Dos Pueblos turned the ball over once more, and Escalante had a long-range heave for the tie at the buzzer that couldn’t find its way to the hoop.
“I’m really happy we pulled through… Yeah, there was some luck involved,” said Emerson with a smile.
DP’s lone senior, Meghan Murphy, had 11 points while Sara Crane had seven.
Dos Pueblos is now 10-11, 1-3, while Santa Barbara improves to 16-6, 3-2.
SANTA BARBARA 47, DOS PUEBLOS 44
SANTA BARBARA — Blackwell 12, Ramirez 7, Griffin 13, Crispin 1, Emerson 7, Pereyra 2, Kerns 1, Boscacci 4. Totals 17 10-18 47.
DOS PUEBLOS — Murphy 11, Hoover-Purter 3, Sessler 11, Crane 7, Mata 2, Escalante 10. Totals 18 4-12 44.
Santa Barbara….11 8 18 10 — 47
Dos Pueblos……17 9 12 8 — 44
3-point goals — SB 3 (Ramirez 2, Griffin), DP 2 (Escalante, Hoover-Purter).
Total fouls — SB 13, DP 14.
Fouled out — None.
Technicals — None.
Team records — SB 16-6, 3-2; DP 10-11, 1-3.
Why does a large school like Dos Pueblos have only 7 players on their basketball team, and 5 of them are freshmen? Is there no structure in their program for players to move up from the lower levels? What has happened the past couple of years to the program? Is girls basketball not popular in that area? Just seems a little weird to me.