Ontario Christian’s Dejah Saldivar breaks girls’ state record for most threes in a game

It didn’t make sense.

On Thursday, the Ontario Christian (18-2) women’ basketball crew had certainly one of their worst practices of the season. No effort. Got here into movie late. Lazy, coach Matt Tumambing put it. He despatched them operating for about an hour and a half.

So heading right into a Friday night time matchup in opposition to Temecula’s Linfield Christian, junior Dejah Saldivar’s legs ought to’ve been useless. And so they had been, just about.

Besides she didn’t miss a single shot in warmups.

“I mentioned, ‘OK, that’s a very good signal,’” Tumambing mentioned. “‘Let’s fireplace away.’”

Saldivar did, 31 occasions in a 115-30 win over Linfield Christian. When the mud settled, she’d made 17 three-pointers, breaking the state women’ basketball file for many threes in a single recreation, in response to Cal-Hello Sports activities. She scored 51 factors on the night time.

“I had zero indication that she was going to have that sort of life tonight,” Tumambing mentioned.

Saldivar didn’t immediately inherit Kevin Durant’s basketball powers Friday like she was the child from “Thunderstruck,” Tumambing referred to as the 5-foot-5 junior “probably the greatest shooters within the nation” coming into the season, and Saldivar now sits atop the nation in three-point makes this season, per MaxPreps.

She is aware of her function, her coach mentioned. Saldivar has taken 231 threes and precisely eight two-point photographs this season. She’s grown into the right operating mate for senior College of Washington commit Chloe Briggs, the latter a triple-double machine averaging 26.6 factors a recreation. Anybody who helps off Saldivar to attempt to comprise certainly one of Briggs’ drives — toast.

“Taking pictures a 3 for her is sort of a layup for different women,” Tumambing mentioned of Saldivar, who’s capturing at a 42% clip from deep on the season.

Saldivar made solely 5 within the first half in opposition to Linfield Christian. She’d solely made eight by three quarters. And after she’d cleared Ontario Christian’s college file with about three minutes left, she recalled, her coaches simply saved yelling at her to shoot.

She missed three in a row.

That’s it, she thought. It’s over.

However her teammates saved force-feeding her, and Saldivar splashed 5 in a row to shut out the night time and topple the file, etching her title into the file books as probably the greatest shooters in state historical past.

Hours later, she nonetheless sounded astonished over the telephone.

“I really feel,” she mentioned, “on prime of the world.”