Rialto advances to semis on Rabino’s hot shooting

La Habra girls basketball coach Jet Julian team threw everything but the kitchen sink at Rialto defensively, employing double teams, presses and traps Wednesday, all in an effort to get the ball out of the hands of Carrington Davis and prevent it from getting to Khamiyah Anderson.

The plan might have worked for the Highlanders if Rialto’s Destiny Rabino didn’t have the hottest hand inside the gymnasium.

Rabino, a 5-foot-7 freshman, confidently drained her first three shots from behind the arc, knocked down three more 3-pointers in the game and finished with 18 points as the Knights posted a wire-to-wire 65-57 victory over La Habra in a CIF Southern Section Division 4AA quarterfinal game.

“They didn’t know that she is my secret weapon,” Rialto coach Robert Goodloe said of Rabino. “Everyone knows about Carrington and Khamiyah because they have been our big two. I knew (La Habra) would go after those two, so we went to Destiny early. And she produced.”

Davis finished with a game-high 23 points and nine rebounds, while Anderson registered a double-double with 12 points and 12 rebounds for the No. 2-seeded Knights (26-2), who travel to Silverado (20-2) for a semifinal game Saturday evening.

Rabino drained those three deep balls in the first 2 1/2 minutes of the game, and Davis sank another 3-pointer to give Rialto an early 12-2 advantage.

“I heard the taunting before the game,” Rabino said of La Habra’s student section, which cheered every time a Rialto player missed a shot during the warm-up session. “I was feeling pretty good shooting the ball during warm-ups, so I was confident when I took those shots in the game.”

Rialto led by 16 going into the fourth quarter, but La Habra did cut the deficit to 55-48 with 2:58 left on the clock. Davis and Yamileth Perez each scored four points down the stretch to seal the win for Rialto. over the final seven minutes of the half.

Jackie Polk scored 10 of her game-high 20 points in the second quarter as Los Osos forced seven turnovers in the second quarter and turned many of them into fast-break points. Hailey Estrada adedd 18 points for the Grizzlies, 10 of which came in the fourth quarter.