Buena Survives Lackluster Effort to Defeat Vista : Division I girls: Bulldogs make only four of 16 free throws but win when Panthers miss last 18 shots.

Had the Vista High girls’ basketball team made even one of its final 18 shots from the field Tuesday night, Buena High players might be turning in their gear today.

Buena was stone-cold as well, making only two of 12 free throws in the fourth quarter and four of 16 overall.

But Buena survived the sloppy affair, 39-37, and advanced to Thursday’s semifinals of the Southern Region Division I State playoffs.

The first-round victory in front of 2,000 at Vista was an ugly performance by both the Southern Section champion Bulldogs (25-2) and the San Diego Section champion Panthers (20-8).

Buena trailed, 37-36, with 3:27 to play and tied the score with 2:39 to play on a free throw by Michelle Giordano. The winning basket was a layup made by Giordano with 1:31 to play.

“We didn’t play like we should have,” said Buena guard Eboni Conley, who scored eight points. “It shouldn’t have been that close.”

Indeed, No. 3-seeded Vista failed to score a field goal in the final 13:32 and missed its final 18 shots, including an NBA-range three-point attempt from the top of the key with one second to play.

DeAngela Minter, who will team with Buena’s Michelle Giordano at Arizona next fall, took that shot, but it only proved to be the last of her 15 consecutive misses.

Minter, a 5-foot-6 guard who came in averaging 22.6 points a game, finished with a team-high 14 points, but 10 came in the first quarter when she made five of her first six shots. Minter has a sore hamstring, but “I can’t use that as an excuse,” she said.

Vaughan made no excuses for the poor free-throw shooting, but he couldn’t explain it, either. “We’re normally a very good free-throw shooting team,” he said. “I don’t know what happened.”

Giordano made only one of six free throws, but she scored nine of her game-high 21 points in the decisive fourth quarter as the Bulldogs outscored the Panthers, 10-5.

“We didn’t play our best game, but they’re a great defensive team,” Giordano said. “The way that game was going, back and forth, back and forth, anyone could have won it.”

This was Buena’s lowest-scoring game since losing to Ventura by the same score in a Channel League game in February. Still, it was enough for the Bulldogs to earn a date against Lynwood, a 76-37 winner over Bakersfield.