San Marcos jumped out to a 10-0 lead and staved off Dos Pueblos comeback attempts to post a 48-39 Channel League girls basketball rivalry win on Tuesday night at the Thunderhut.
The Royals got scoring from all eight players who saw action in the game, led by Michelle Arellanes with 11 points and Mia Martinez-Tomatis with 10.
“What me and my assistant coach Chiara (DeMarco) asked them to do was make yourself available for your teammates,” Simms explained of the team effort. “Be a better teammate, and being a better teammate is being available for the next pass. And every girl tonight played that way.”
San Marcos’ defense didn’t allow Dos Pueblos to get the ball inside in the first quarter, daring the Chargers to beat them from the perimeter. They struggled all night to knock down shots from the 3-point line.
“DP lives and dies by the three, so if that’s your bread and butter, show us,” San Marcos coach Tiffany Simms said. “Tonight, they just couldn’t show it. Our defense won out.”
The Royals also won the rebound battle, which frustrated DP coach Manny Murillo.
“It was a lot of self-inflicted wounds, giving up second chances,” Murillo said of keys to the loss. “Almost every possession (San Marcos) got a second chance at it, and that’s when they scored the majority of the time. We’re out of position and we foul them. They shot 23 free throws tonight.”
Despite its shooting struggles, DP managed to stay close. Justine Katz grabbed an errant shot and scored to bring the score to 21-17 early in the third quarter.
But San Marcos struck back as Arellanes sparked a six-point run. She scored on a drive, fed Mariia Shytkova for a layup and made a steal that resulted in a Martinez-Tomatis layup and a 27-17 lead at the 4:18 mark.
Lauren Robles found her outside shooting touch late in the quarter for DP. She buried back-to-back three-pointers to bring the Chargers to within six, 34-28.
San Marcos responded and increased the lead to nine (39-30) as Natasha Bender finished an offensive rebound and Arellanes buried a three-point.
DP freshman Carly Letendre scored on a drive and hit a pair of free throws to cut the deficit to 39-35 with 5:26 to go.
“We kept fighting. It’s just mental mistakes that kept us out of the game,” said Murillo.
The Royals’ defense took charge down the stretch. They made a couple of steals that led to a pair of free throws and a layup by Arellanes during a 6-0 run that pushed the lead back to 10 points (45-35) with 3:11 left in the game.
“The girls like to make it exciting and make my heart stop beating every once in a while, but it’s good basketball,” said Simms.
San Marcos made 7 of 10 free throws in the last four minutes.
Katz led Dos Pueblos with 17 points and Letendre added 10 points.
San Marcos improves to 2-1 in the Channel League and 7-5 overall while Dos Pueblos is 2-1 and 7-9.