Dos Pueblos girls basketball came out of the gates red hot and never looked back as they cruised to an 87-40 win over crosstown rival San Marcos on Thursday inside Sovine Gym.
The Chargers put together a balanced scoring attack in the big win with five different players reaching double-digit points.
“Everybody can get buckets, so you can’t key on anybody,” Dos Pueblos coach Manny Murillo said. “It’s our style: running up and down and giving everyone an opportunity to shoot the ball.”
It started from the very beginning, as the Chargers controlled the opening tip and Taylor Grant found Carly Letendre for a three-pointer to get the scoring started just 15 seconds into the game.
Letendre triggered a flurry of hot shooting by Dos Pueblos, as the team nailed five three-pointers before San Marcos could score a point, jumping out to a 15-0 lead with 3:28 to go in the first quarter.
The first 24 points for the Chargers all came from beyond the arc, propelling the team to a dominant 26-5 lead after the first quarter. The first five points for the Royals came courtesy of Natasha Stapf.
Letendre led that offensive burst with 11 points in the quarter. She ended the night with a game-high 23 points.
“Carly has stepped up this year,” Murillo said. “We told her she was going to have a bigger role this year and that she was going to need to play big minutes and not only score but also facilitate and run the offense.
“She’s doing a great job at that point guard position and it relieves a lot of stress from Justine (Katz), not having to bring the ball up.”
San Marcos answered with a strong start to the second quarter as Natasha Bender got a tough reverse layup to fall and Carley Nielsen nailed a three-pointer off an assist from Stapf.
The quick five-point swing cut the lead to 26-10 and triggered a timeout from Dos Pueblos less than a minute into the quarter.
Out of the timeout, Dos Pueblos’ Lauren Robles hit back-to-back shots, including a deep three-pointer to bring the lead back up to 21 points.
The San Marcos offense found more of a groove in the second quarter, but the Chargers continued to hit three-pointers to neutralize the Royals’ offensive attack.
Heading into the locker room, Dos Pueblos led 44-18.
“The rivalry game always brings out the best I feel,” Murillo said. “All the hard work you put in will come to light in these rivalry games and I was super proud of them.”
The second half was more of the same from the Chargers, but the San Marcos offense picked it up in the third quarter, almost doubling its points from the first half.
Three-pointers on back-to-back possessions from Nielsen brought the score to 70-34 in favor of Dos Pueblos. Nielsen led the Royals in scoring with 14 points to go with her six rebounds.
From there, the fourth quarter featured a running clock and the Chargers pulled out the 87-40 win.
“Tonight just wasn’t our night,” San Marcos coach Tiffany Simms said. “We never got into our rhythm but I’m very proud of the team and how they played hard and kept their energy up throughout the entire game.
“There are some minor adjustments needed and we’re just glad that we will have the chance to play them again and improve.”
To go along with Letendre’s 23-point effort, the other Dos Pueblos scorers in double figures were Justine Katz (16), Lauren Robles (13), Sierra Jewell (11) and Eden Wynne (10).
Katz registered a double-double with 10 rebounds while Taylor Grant put together a solid all-around performance with seven points, seven assists and six rebounds.
For San Marcos, Nielsen was joined by Natasha Stapf with double-digit points as she scored 11. Meanwhile, Natash Bender collected nine rebounds down low.
Both teams will be back with another league matchup on Tuesday when the Royals will hit the road to face Buena and Dos Pueblos will host Pacifica at 7 p.m.
