Backcourt Puts Santa Paula Out in Front, 61-49

The stands were empty.

The lights were being dimmed in the Santa Clara High gymnasium.

Their teammates were boarding the bus outside for the trip home.

But Rachel Kolbeck and Sarah Ruiz of Santa Paula were carrying on a quiet conversation alongside their team’s sideline Tuesday night after the Cardinals’ 61-49 victory over the Saints in a Frontier League girls’ basketball game.

Perhaps Kolbeck, a 5-foot-8 sophomore forward, and Ruiz, a 5-foot freshman guard, were savoring the moment after helping Santa Paula take a big step toward winning its first title in nine years.

Kolbeck had 24 points and 14 rebounds for the Cardinals (14-6, 4-0 in league play) while Ruiz scored 23 points.

Both played particularly well in the second half, when Kolbeck scored 16 points in the last two quarters and Ruiz had 18.

“I chewed [the team] out at halftime,” third-year Coach Emily Stenzel of Santa Paula said. “I told them they only had one chance to [beat Santa Clara] and put themselves in position to win league.

“I told them if we didn’t [win Tuesday night], it would be much harder to beat them the second time around.”

The Cardinals appeared to get the message.

They made 16 of 30 shots in the second half after hitting only eight of 37 in the first half.

Santa Paula extended a 21-16 halftime lead to 40-31 at the end of the third quarter before leading by 14 points in the fourth.

Ruiz, who had hit 35 of 82 three-point shots entering the game, had five three-pointers, including three during a 59-second stretch in the second half.

The first of those three-pointers gave Santa Paula a 40-31 lead with 25 seconds left in the third quarter.

The second gave the Cardinals a 43-31 margin with 7:47 remaining in the game and the third pushed the lead to 46-33 with 7:26 left.

Kolbeck, who is often overshadowed by her senior sister, Sarah, scored eight of the next 10 points for Santa Paula by making two free throws, scoring a basket inside and hitting two medium-range shots.

“We thought Rachel would be able to score a lot,” Stenzel said. “We figured they’d try to shut down Sarah and that would leave Rachel open for some shots.”

Sarah Kolbeck, a 5-9 forward-center averaging a team-high 19.6 points entering the game, was held to six points, but had 15 rebounds.

Ashley Biggins, a 6-4 center, had 24 points and 19 rebounds for Santa Clara (8-9, 2-1) and Nicole Palomares scored 19 points.

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