Ariel Plourde helped San Marcos erase a six-point deficit to tie Santa Clara and force overtime on Tuesday, only to get outscored 13-4 in the five-minute extra session and drop a 49-40 decision in pool play at the Nordhoff Tournament.
Plourde scored 12 of her 13 points in the fourth quarter as the Royals tied it at 36 to send it into OT.
It was nice to see us battle back to tie it after being down most of the game,” said Royals coach Aaron Solis. “We even had a chance to win it in regulation, but then we had a couple of defensive lapses in overtime which gave them a couple of easy buckets and our free-throw shooting was horrendous. That’s what did us in. But at least it’s stuff we can continue to work on and get better. I love the effort and battle in these girls and we are going to get better.”
Kiana Rojas added 10 points for San Marcos.
The Royals will host La Reina on Thursday at 6 p.m. as part of the Nordhoff Tourney and then travel to take on the host Rangers on Friday in Ojai.