Dos Pueblos girls basketball struggled to keep up with Rosary Academy in a 53-33 loss in the CIF-SS D2 Quarterfinals on Wednesday inside Sovine Gym.
The Chargers kept the game relatively close in the opening half, but the Royals showed why they are the No. 2 seed in the division by pulling away down the stretch.
“First of all, I just want to give a shoutout to all my players,” Dos Pueblos head coach Andy Casanueva said. “They all bought in early to the process, and I think that is what set us apart. We were willing to make the sacrifices and work hard in order to succeed.
“We set goals before the season began and created a road map to get there. I think that having that direction, regardless of how young we are allowed to stay focused on our goals.”
Dos Pueblos will bring back all but one player from this year’s team, and seven Chargers were underclassmen this season.
“When you have a young team, I would say building chemistry is the hardest part since they haven’t played that much together,” Casanueva said. “But as the season progressed, you could see that happening, and them learning to play off each other.
“It bodes well for the future. Now these younger players understand what it takes and how much work to be successful… They got to see a very good, physical and disciplined team deep into a CIF run.”
Defense was the name of the game in the early stages, as both sides were forcing turnover after turnover in the first quarter. As a result, both teams were stuck in single digits until just 1:08 remained in the period.
After a Rosary bucket put the visitors up 10-5, Dos Pueblos’ Kindah Ahmad-Reda responded with a layup on the other end to cut the Royals’ lead to 10-7 at the end of the first.
Rosary found a bit more of a groove in the second quarter, but the Chargers’ turnover woes continued. In fact, the Royals scored the first eight points of the second to expand their lead out to 18-7 with 3:30 to go in the half.
While Dos Pueblos did stop the run with an Ahmad-Reda layup, Rosary maintained control of the game. Penelope Frazer kept the Chargers in it with five points in the final 1:16 of the half, but the Royals’ lead stood at 26-14 at the break.
“I think missing some of those opportunities to score early in the first quarter threw us off a little,” Casanueva said. “I think [Rosary’s] length also affected us. They have been here before… so they have a lot of experience.”
Ahmad-Reda and the Chargers came out of the break on a mission, as the sophomore rattled off six straight points in one minute of play to cut the deficit down to 26-20 and prompt a Rosary timeout.
The Royals looked like a different team out of the timeout, scoring nine unanswered points to balloon the lead back up to 35-20 with 2:40 to go.
The two teams then exchanged buckets and Dos Pueblos’ Carly Letendre drilled a half-court buzzer-beater to trim the Rosary lead to 37-25 with one quarter to play.
The Royals stifled any momentum the Chargers were feeling with a pair of three-pointers to begin the fourth quarter.
From there, Rosary fended off any Dos Pueblos comeback effort with buckets on the offensive end to punch its ticket to the semifinals.
The Chargers emptied the bench at the 1:30 mark, with the Dos Pueblos faithful rising to its feet to honor the team and Letendre, the lone senior and the program’s all-time leading scorer.
“I can’t say enough about [Letendre],” Casanueva said. “She literally almost played every single minute of every game we played this season. She was asked to carry the load and she did from every practice to every game.
“She leaves some big shoes to fill, but her legacy, aside from all the records, will be her leadership and compassion and what it takes to be successful.”
Ahmad-Reda led the way for the Chargers with a game-high 15 points to go along with six rebounds. Meanwhile, Penelope Frazer scored nine points and Letendre ended the night with seven.