After a dramatic two-point loss earlier this month to San Marcos, Dos Pueblos girls basketball got its revenge with a 42-38 win over the Royals on Thursday inside Sovine Gym.
It was a defensive battle from start to finish, as both teams were energized by the crosstown rivalry rematch with sole possession of second place in the Channel League on the line.
“The team’s been pretty resilient all year,” Dos Pueblos head coach Andy Casanueva said. “We haven’t had the same starting lineup for more than three games, so they’ve become a band of sisters.
“Devin’s done a great job with the San Marcos program… It’s good to have rivalry and good basketball back in Santa Barbara.”
The Chargers (15-11, 9-3 Channel League) now sit one game above the Royals (15-7, 8-4 CL) behind the undefeated Ventura Cougars. Both Dos Pueblos and San Marcos will likely be heading to the CIF-SS playoffs, barring any surprise upsets in the final two games of the regular season.
“[The win] definitely means a lot to us, we’ve been preparing for this game for a really long time,” Dos Pueblos senior Carly Letendre said. “Since it’s my last home league game, we really wanted to win, and I’m really happy that we did.”
The first quarter was a low-scoring affair, as the Dos Pueblos full-court defense applied plenty of pressure while the Royals strung together some impressive stops in the half-court.
The score was stuck at 9-6 in favor of the Chargers with two minutes left, but San Marcos made a quick 6-0 run with a putback layup by Lily Ruvalcaba, a Jada Ahmad layup and a midrange jumper from Izzy Schow to take a 12-9 lead into the second.
The defensive success and offensive woes continued into the second, as both sides were held for double figures in the quarter. In fact, after San Marcos took a 15-13 lead at the 5:24 mark on a three-pointer by Ahmad, neither team scored again until there was 1:35 left in the half.
Ahmad broke the drought with a long ball and a driving layup on back-to-back possessions before Dos Pueblos’ Kindah Ahmad-Reda answered with a three-pointer to cut the Royals’ lead to 20-16 at halftime.
“We’ve talked to our girls about just always staying consistent with our defense,” San Marcos head coach Devin Uyesaka said. “There are going to be nights where shots aren’t going to fall, but no matter what, that doesn’t change our energy level on defense.
“We rely on a defense, and we’re going to stick with that… Our defense kept us in the game. It gave us an opportunity to still compete in the end.”
Ahmad played a key role in the Royals building up a halftime lead, accounting for 13 of the team’s 20 first-half points. She ended the night with a game-high 19 points.
The Chargers came out of the break on a mission, ripping off an 8-0 run in the first two minutes of the second half, grabbing a 24-20 lead and forcing a San Marcos timeout.
The rivals exchanged blows for the rest of the quarter, and a driving layup in the final minute by Letendre gave the Chargers a slim 29-27 advantage with one quarter left to play.
“We haven’t been the best third-quarter team throughout the season, and I don’t think we’ve ever scored 16 points in a half, so something had to give,” Casanueva said. “There’s a lot of emotions riding in this game, so it’s a great learning experience for them to figure out how to play through some of those emotions.
“We did it on the defensive end, and the shots started falling, and things came together.”
As it did in the third, Dos Pueblos gained the upper hand early in the fourth with two quick buckets to extend the lead to 33-27 and prompt another timeout.
The Royals answered out of the break with a putback layup from Schow, but the Chargers regained control and held a two-possession lead for the majority of the quarter until a layup by Schow cut it to 38-35 with 2:09 remaining.
The Dos Pueblos defense then stepped up when they needed it most, holding the Royals scoreless for the next two minutes while knocking down four free throws. Ahmad hit a three at the buzzer but it was too little, too late as the Chargers came away with the 42-38 win.
Letendre led the way for Dos Pueblos in the final quarter, scoring nine of her 14 points while playing standout defense. She also tallied five rebounds and four steals in the win.
“After the third quarter ended, we all talked to each other, and we said ‘This is going to be a battle, a dog fight, so we have to want it more,’” Letendre said. “In the fourth quarter, I think we definitely showed that. We showed that we really wanted to win.”
Ahmad-Reda also scored 14 points for the Chargers to go along with seven rebounds, while Schow reached double figures for the Royals with 10 points and nine rebounds.
Dos Pueblos will be on the road against Pacifica on Saturday at 2:30 p.m., while San Marcos will play host to Buena on Saturday at 3 p.m.