Sarada, huh?
It's a shame we don't have our characters available to simply ask questions: "What was going through your head at that time? Did the script not let you do what I think would have been awesome?" ect.
That said, it's understandable that people who are growing up, or coming into an understanding of things, will make mistakes. They may suffer from tunnel vision when the going gets tough, they may encounter a new fear they have never dealt with before... any number of things. Character is not necessarily defined by what choices we make on the spot, but what courses of action we resolve ourselves to.
Even Boruto's cheating is part of this learning process. If every person were permanently labeled for their character by any mistake they have ever made, then few of us would ever escape judgment. Though it has little bearing on Sarada's decisions, actions, and later course.
As for the actual fight, it's always hard to theorycraft around characters where there is no defined combat system. It would be simple to find an optimal approach if this were a game with defined rules and stats - but so many variables are unknown or subject to plot convenience.
