After being held to 11 first-half points and trailing by 21 at the half, Dos Pueblos came alive with 50 points in the second half and overtime to rally past Santa Paula 61-57 in the semifinals of the Nordhoff Tournament.
Sophomore Ariana Tapia scored 10 in the third quarter as the Chargers (9-2) posted a season-high 26 points to pull within three, 39-36. Santa Paula held a 32-11 halftime advantage.
“It was a tale of two halves as we missed our first seven shots and scored only 11 in the first half,” said coach Phil Sherman. “However in the second half, we erupted for 50 points behind the play of Tapia and fellow sophomores Leila Chisholm and Teagan Haley, who scored 11 and 6 points respectively.
“Mikayla Butzke was the one steady influence in this game as she scored 10 points, grabbed 12 rebounds and had three steals,” Sherman added. “It has been a hard season to measure thus far as we have had seven different people who have been first or second in scoring. I am beginning to believe in the Forest Gump quote: ‘Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you are going to get.”
Sherman praised the play of Leila Chisholm, who scored 11 in the fourth quarter and overtime. “It was her second bailout performance of this young season as she scored 18 points against Lawndale earlier this year when we weren’t shooting well,” recalled Sherman.
The Chargers will battle Santa Clara for the championship on Saturday.