The San Marcos High girls’ basketball team trailed by five late in the fourth quarter, but by the final seconds, had a chance to hit a shot at the buzzer to win the Green Division of the Santa Barbara Tournament of Champions.
With 3.7 seconds left on the clock, Royals’ guard Ellie Monson received the inbounds pass, but despite the junior trying to draw the foul on the tough shot, the referees let it go, and the Del Norte Warriors won the contest 52-51.
With the loss, San Marcos falls to 5-5 overall on the season, holding a 1-1 record in the league as well.
Monson, fellow junior guard Mia Martinez-Tomatis and senior guard Michelle Arellanes each received Santa Barbara TOC honors.
“My girls keep playing great defensive disciplined games. As a coach, a defensive-minded coach, you can’t ask for anything better than that,” Royals’ coach Tiffany Simms said after the game.
Del Norte’s (10-4 overall) junior forward Bailey Barnhard won tournament MVP honors after leading her Warriors with a 15-point effort, nine of which came in the second half.
“She averages 24 points per game and we held her to 15. We did lose, but that is a win,” Simms said.
Del Norte raced out to a 5-0 lead to start the contest, but after that, San Marcos’ offense found a lot of success.
The Royals outscored the Warriors 20-10 the rest of the way through the first frame to take a three-point lead after one quarter.
San Marcos extended its lead to as much as eight in the second quarter, 31-23, on an offensive rebound and put-back by Martinez-Tomatis with 3:47 left.
A 3-pointer by Del Norte’s Eleni Huntalas with 10 seconds left in the frame would cut into the Royals’ halftime lead, at 35-30.
Arellanes was hot to start the second half for the Royals, hitting a tough runner and then drawing an and-1 opportunity on a tough layup to give her team a 39-31 lead through two minutes in the third.
But Del Norte’s defense turned it up a notch, forcing the Royals into five turnovers through the rest of the third quarter and overall hindering their offensive possessions.
“We just have to play tougher in those situations. Work harder to get open,” Simms said. “I am really confident with any girl on my team with the ball in their hand, their IQ is high enough to do what they need to do to get open, so it’s just about trusting them and them trusting us and we just play our game.
“We really don’t change our game plan. We just play our game.”
Slowly but surely, a Barnhard bucket with just over two minutes left would cut San Marcos’ lead to one.
A clutch three by Arellanes quickly bumped the lead back up to four, but another Barnhard score cut into the Royals’ lead heading into the fourth, 42-40.
The Warriors finally caught a little heat in the final period.
Tied at 45-45, a three by Kiana Cadigan and a put-back score by Calissa Tyrrell, who also earned All-Tournament honors, gave the Warriors a 50-45 lead with just two minutes left.
“My girls are ballers. They never give up, buzzer to buzzer, we know we are never out of a game, we can get hot at any minute, and being down five is not being down to us, it is just about executing the next play,” Simms said.
As Simms said, even despite blowing a comfortable lead, the Royals never gave up.
A three from Martinez-Tomatis, followed by a stop and a clutch layup by Arellanes would tie the contest at 50.
Barnhard gave Del Norte the go-ahead bucket with 57.1 seconds left. Monson drew a foul and knocked down 1-of-2 free throws to give the Royals a chance, trailing 52-51.
After a clutch stop, the Royals had the ball with 27 seconds left. Their initial possession struggled to find an open look, and with 3.7 seconds left, the team was forced to call a timeout.
San Marcos drew up a play to draw a good look but also provide the opportunity to draw a foul. Monson caught the ball deep in the paint and put up a shot that was blocked by Barnhard with very tough contact.
No call was made, however, and the Royals fell just short, 52-51.
“I thought we played a hell of a game and got all the shots that we wanted to make, but we didn’t get the call that we wanted at the end,” Simms said.
San Marcos was led by Martinez-Tomatis with a game-high 18 points.
“These last few games, she has been more aggressive offensively than she normally is,” Simms said. “We see in our practice that she’s one of those players that lets those who are hot, stay hot. but we’ve asked her to be more a scorer every night. And when we’ve asked her, she’s answered.”
Arellanes finished with 17 points while Monson added seven with a pair of assists.
Dos Pueblos 49, Santa Barbara 21
Carly Letendre scored 23 points and made five steals to lead the Chargers over their cross-town rivals in the seventh-place game of the Green Division at the Santa Barbara Tournament of Champions.
DP (6-5) dominated the backboards, with Evette Allen and Sierra Jewel grabbing seven rebounds apiece. Allen also had four steals. Justine Katz scored nine points while Gianna Nichols added eight.
“Evette and Sierra controlled the glass for us today and allowed us to get in transition, so credit to them,” coach Manny Murillo said. “Carly really stepped up big for us today on both sides of the ball. She is one of those kids that listens, works hard on her game, and hates losing.
“It was also good to see Gianna get going again. She played good defense which helped her offense and hit some timely shots.”
The Dons trailed just 6-5 after the first quarter but the Chargers took control with a 19-3 run during the second period.
“Dos Pueblos did an excellent job of forcing turnovers (23), which proved to be the difference in the game,” Dons coach Andrew Butcher said.
“We continue to improve at the defensive end, allowing 20 less points than we allowed in our game with Dos Pueblos last week,” Butcher added. “We are getting an understanding of a team defense concept, which is encouraging.”
Dayzia Mendoza led Santa Barbara with 14 points while making 4-of-10 three-pointers. She also had a team-high five rebounds. Miranda Dennis contributed four assists.
Bishop Montgomery 48, Redondo Union 38
Kyori Lloyd scored 14 of her game-high 16 points in the second half to lead the Knights to a 48-38 victory over the Sea Hawks in the Gold Division’s Championship Game.
Tournament MVP Jordin Blackmon staked Bishop Montgomery to a halftime lead of 32-18 by scoring eight of her 10 points in the second quarter. The Knights, ranked No. 8 in the CIF-Southern Section’s Division 1, also placed Lloyd and Deyla Davis on the all-tournament team.
Redondo Union, ranked No. 5 in Division 2AA, was led by all-tournament selection Brillana Boyd’s 14 points. Also receiving all-tournament honors for the Sea Hawks were Malia Natividad and Abby Zimmerman.