As the San Marcos varsity boys’ and girls’ teams prepare to battle Santa Barbara at Santa Barbara City College on Friday, the lower levels met at the Thunderhut on Thursday. It was a good night for the Royals girls’ junior varsity and frosh/soph squads, as both picked up victories against the Dons in the final meeting of the season between the rivals.

The San Marcos and Santa Barbara girls JV teams split their first two meetings, setting up Thursday’s rubber match. Vanessa Curiel entered the starting lineup for the first time this season and led the Royals to a 49-39 win.

San Marcos’ (12-6 overall, 2-4 in Channel League play) offense posted its highest scoring output since the preseason, with 13 points from Jeannette Mendoza, 12 from Kelsey Brown and nine from Curiel. It was defensive energy that created easy scoring opportunities, however.

Curiel highlighted San Marcos’ defensive effort, knocking a ball from the hands of a Dons player, diving on the floor for the loose ball and tossing it ahead from her stomach to Brown for a fast break layup. Lyndsey Hyslop’s defense also frustrated the Dons throughout the game.

Siondra Pereyra was the high scorer for Santa Barbara with 13 points.

The San Marcos frosh/soph team continued its dominance of Santa Barbara, improving to 3-0 against the Dons. The Royals (9-10, 3-3) started slowly but awoke in the second half to run away with a 48-13 victory. Leanne and Jenise Fretz each scored seven points for the Royals.

The varsity games have huge playoff implications for all four teams as Channel League play enters the home stretch. On the boys’ side, Santa Barbara (12-14, 3-3), San Marcos (17-7, 2-3) and Ventura (16-7, 3-2) are all within a game of one another for second and third places. The San Marcos girls (7-13, 1-4) trail Dos Pueblos by one game for the league’s final playoff spot and Santa Barbara (7-14, 0-5), still looking for its first league win, is just a game behind the Royals.

Santa Barbara is Friday’s “home” team, but the games will be played at SBCC. The girls’ game tips off at 5:45 p.m. and the boys will follow at 7:30 p.m.

Alex Sheldon coaches San Marcos’ junior varsity girl’s basketball team.