In that rough sea I suppose the Allied destroyers could not match the speed of the Scharnhorst, so there would be no need to sacrifice the German destroyers.In that scenario Scharnhorst is again surprised by the arrival of DOY, but would have a better chance of escape by using its superior speed to outrun DOY, and sacrificing the German destroyers to prevent the Allied destroyers going after Scharnhorst.
And even if they would have matched that speed, the superior armament of the Scharnhorst (still intact) could have prevented any serious attack from nearby.
In essence if the German destroyers had been left with her, she would have an improved chance to avoid damage and escape, while risking the loss of 1 or even more destroyers (see the similar battle a year before when the Germans lost a destroyer when it took the British cruisers for German ships).