With four key players out of the lineup, Dos Pueblos High figured to have a tough time in Saturday’s championship game of the Nordhoff girls basketball tournament. And things got even tougher since the JV team had a game the same day and they were strapped for players.
“We were stuck between a rock and a hard place,” said coach Phil Sherman. “We had to travel with seven players, with two of them very inexperienced.”
Mikayla Butzke, Sadie Subject, Ashley Gerken and Leila Chisholm knew they had to step things up and that’s exactly what they did. The foursome played all 32 minutes and the depleted Chargers rallied past Santa Clara for a 42-38 victory and the tournament title.
Chisholm led the Chargers with 12 points and Gerken had nine points and five rebounds. Butzke had eight points and 11 rebounds.
Butzke was named tournament MVP and Gerken was all-tournament, adding to her hardware as MVP of the Malibu tournament.
Santa Clara took a 21-19 halftime lead and the Chargers (10-2) trailed for most of the game. DP finally took the lead when Chisholm dropped in a runner with four minutes to play.
“Ashley Gerken made two crucial free throws late in the game to stop a Saints run and Mikayla Butzke blocked a shot and controlled the rebound on two consecutive trips in the final minute to secure the championship,” said Sherman. “There are a great deal of compliments to be handed out for this game.
“Sadie and Leila controlled the tempo from beginning to the end. Mikayla scored, defended and rebounded well the entire tournament. Teagan Haley, playing the most minutes she has on varsity, played tough when forced to cover larger opponents and Tatum Dunson, who was keeping the book just last week, was forced to play when two players got three fouls apiece. She scored two points and had one rebound.”
The Chargers will play Westlake on Monday and travel to Cate on Tuesday.