Dos Pueblos faced a much-improved Santa Barbara High girls basketball and needed some clutch plays down the stretch to escape with a 45-40 Channel League win on Thursday night at J.R. Richards Gym.
Evette Allen scored off a loose ball in the paint to put the Chargers up by five, and former Don Lauren Robles buried a three-pointer with 36 seconds left and then hit a free throw with six seconds left to close out the game.
Dos Pueblos improved to 4-4 in Channel League and 9-12 overall while Santa Barbara fell to 1-6, 2-15.
Dos Pueblos dominated the Dons in their first meeting back in December, rolling to a 69-35 win.
Santa Barbara kept the rematch close. The Dons trailed by only three (39-36) with 3:24 left after back-to-back baskets by Jazz Gordon and Chloe Adams.
“We’re playing really good basketball and you can’t ask for more,” said longtime Santa Barbara coach Andrew Butcher. “We have only three points back from last year’s team, total.”
Dos Pueblos coach Manny Murillo noticed the difference in Santa Barbara’s game from the first meeting.
“Credit to them, they’re getting better. And we’re trying to really work on things to get ourselves better as well,” said Murillo.
The Chargers had their transition game going early, with Justine Katz and freshman Carly Letendre doing most of the damage. Letendre buried a couple three-pointers and scored on a drive, and Katz got to the free-throw line after being fouled on drives. Their play helped DP go up 18-10 in the second quarter.
“We like to get up and down on offense early and play at that pace. I feel like it suits us,” said Murillo. “The second half we didn’t get as much of that.”
Santa Barbara came back with a pair of three points from Dayzia Mendoza and jumper by Arianna Pacheco Alvarez to tie the score at 18.
A basket by Lauren Robles and a three-pointer from Letendre put the Chargers ahead 23-18 at halftime.
“We gave up some transition baskets and then we let (Justine Katz) do what she does best — drive right,” said Butcher. “That was 10 points they earned, but they were points we took away the rest of the game.
“If our focus is a little better early, I think we would have been right there. The points are just as important the first possession as the last, so that really hurt us.”
A three-pointer by Sierra Jewel gave DP a 29-20 lead in the third quarter and the Chargers expanded the advantage to 37-26 as Robles knocked down a trey out of time out and Katz fed Letendre for a fast-break layup.
Letendre led DP with 19 points and Robles finished with eight in her first game back in the gym where she played last year.
“I told her just to relax, it’s just another game,” Murillo said of his pregame conversation with Robles. “I’ve been there, because I transferred out of Santa Barbara as well when I was a sophomore. So I know what that feeling is like going back to the school you just transferred from and playing in that environment.
“I feel she got settled in the second half and played a lot better and a lot smarter.”
On the Santa Barbara side, the Dons have received a big boost from Gordon’s return from injury. The junior post player led all scorers with 22 points.
Butcher said Gordon was playing in only her fifth game. She is the younger sister of former Santa Barbara standout Cassandra Gordon, who plays at Loyola Marymount.
“Jazz is a talent,” said Butcher. “This is only her second year playing basketball. She is a dancer.”
Mendoza, a sophomore, recorded a double-double for the Dons with 12 points and 12 rebounds to go with five assists. Adams, a junior, had seven rebounds and five steals.
Butcher is pleased how the Dons are coming together as a team.
“The season is going to end too early because we’re going to get very competitive,” he said.