Santa Clara Leaves Santa Paula Fit to Be Tied, 40-39

SANTA PAULA —  The boisterous crowd was waiting to erupt in celebration of the first league title in nine years for the Santa Paula High girls’ basketball team.

But the only ones celebrating at the end of the night were from Santa Clara.

The Saints spoiled the victory party and put themselves in position to tie for the Frontier League title with a 40-39 victory Tuesday night at Santa Paula.

Santa Clara (13-9, 6-1 in league play), which hasn’t won a Frontier League title since 1992, can earn a share of the title with a victory Thursday over visiting Calabasas.

For most of the night, the Saints didn’t have much reason to celebrate.

They watched Santa Paula (18-7, 7-1) take a 21-14 lead and force 11 turnovers in the first half.

Santa Clara, which trailed most of the game, didn’t go ahead for good until Angelica Carranza scored on a layup for a 36-35 lead with 2:38 remaining.

Even then it wasn’t until Nicole Palomares sank two free throws for a 40-37 lead with 31 seconds remaining that the Saints sealed the victory.

“A lot of nerves came out when I was standing there [at the line],” Palomares said. “I just tried to block everything out and picture myself shooting in our own gym.”

Palomares had nine points and 12 rebounds, and Carranza had 10 points and five steals for the Saints.

But they probably would have fallen short if not for the play of 6-3 center Ashley Biggins, who scored 10 of her 19 points in the second half and added 16 rebounds.

She also had a strong presence on defense, making it difficult for forward Sarah Kolbeck most of the game.

Kolbeck, who was averaging 19.4 points, was held to eight although she did finish with 22 rebounds.

In fact, Kolbeck didn’t score her first points until there were less than seven minutes remaining.

“I think what [Santa Clara] did was cover our guards so well that they couldn’t get it inside to Sarah,” Coach Emily Stenzel of Santa Paula said.

The Cardinals had to rely on the outside shooting of guards Sarah Ruiz and Carla Berumen.

Ruiz scored 18 points and Berumen had nine. Rachel Kolbeck, Sarah’s sister, had 13 rebounds.

“I tried to tell them that they’re still the champions,” Stenzel said. “We went the whole league season undefeated and it’s not the end of the world.”

Oxnard defeated Santa Clara, 61-49, on Jan. 18.

“We worked really hard after the last game against them,” Biggins said. “We knew this was our chance to beat them and we didn’t want to let it slip away.”