After a seesaw game for the first 34 minutes of action inside a loud Thunderhut, Dos Pueblos’ Carly Letendre hit a layup over a San Marcos defender to tie the rivalry girls basketball matchup at 53-53 with 1:31 on the clock.
On the ensuing possession, the Royals’ shot came up short, but Lily Ruvalcaba collected the offensive rebound and converted the second-chance layup to go up 55-53 with just over a minute to go.
The two sides then traded empty possessions to give the Chargers the ball with 13 seconds left. After a timeout, Letendre threw up a three-pointer heavily contested by Janelle Capuno, and the ball bounced off the rim and gave the Royals the 55-53 crosstown win.
With the victory, San Marcos (9-5, 3-2 Channel League) moved into a tie with Dos Pueblos (9-10, 3-2 CL), who sit behind Ventura and Oxnard, respectively. It was San Marcos’ first win over the Chargers since the 2022-23 season.
“Hopefully we can take this momentum and see how long we can let this ride,” San Marcos head coach Devin Uyesaka said. “This team is a resilient team. They’re going to keep battling, especially in a rivalry game.”
The Chargers came out of the gates on fire as Letendre got a quick eight points and DP generated several turnovers with a full-court press to build up a 13-6 lead halfway through the opening quarter.
The Royals then found their groove as a deep three-pointer by Jada Ahmad sparked a strong 12-2 run to end the quarter. In that run, Ahmad scored six points and Izzy Schow added a pair of second-chance buckets to take an 18-15 lead into the second.
Schow and Ruvalcaba dominated the painted area for the Royals, each recording crucial double-doubles. Schow tallied 13 points and 15 rebounds, while Ruvalcaba ended the night with 13 points and 10 rebounds.
“We told the girls that they have the ability to dominate the paint and dominate the boards,” Uyesaka said. “That was the challenge tonight: Let’s be the team that we know we can be.
“We took care of business on the boards, and it gave us multiple opportunities. Obviously, we got some points in the paint out of that, but we also were able to get some inside-out looks.”
The majority of the second was a defensive struggle, with a pair of free throws by Dos Pueblos’ Kindah Ahmad-Reda being the only points scored in the first four minutes of the quarter.
The next points came on a layup by Lucy Holian to put the Chargers back in front, 19-18, with 3:32 left in the first half.
The two sides then exchanged blows down the stretch, with Sophie Heinemann drilling a three to give Dos Pueblos a 24-22 lead in the final minute before Autumn Johnson drilled a long ball just before the buzzer to put the Royals up 25-24 at halftime.
Early in the third quarter, Letendre, the Chargers’ main playmaker, committed her fourth foul of the game and was forced to miss the vast majority of the quarter.
San Marcos took advantage of her absence, forcing several turnovers on the defensive end and pouring in 21 points behind eight apiece from Ahmad and Ruvalcaba to grow the lead to 46-38 heading into the third.
“The energy we get across the board with our team has been awesome,” Uyesaka said. “It lifts everyone’s spirits and it’s also just the culture that we’ve built in our program that has really allowed us to be successful in those moments.”
Dos Pueblos came out of the break on a mission, led by a stellar start to the quarter from Ahmad-Reda. The sophomore, who traditionally plays in the paint, knocked down a trio of three-pointers early and hit a free throw at the 4:10 mark to tie the game up at 49-49.
The Royals then separated themselves a bit with a floater from Schow and an Ahmad layup to go up 53-49 with three minutes on the clock.
The Chargers swung right back as Ahmad-Reda and Letendre each hit one free throw before the driving layup by Letendre to tie things up at 53-53 and set up the last-minute dramatics where San Marcos pulled out the win.
“I think the fact that we’ve been in so many of these tight games gives us more experience,” Uyesaka said. “Being able to have that experience has allowed us to get a little more comfortable in these situations.”
While the Schow/Ruvalcaba duo held down the painted area, Ahmad poured in a game-high 20 points, including four three-pointers.
On the other side, Ahmad-Reda also finished the night with 20 points, 11 of which came in the final quarter. Letendre followed her with 12 points.
Both teams will continue league play on Saturday when the Royals hit the road to take on Buena and the Chargers play host to Pacifica at 3 p.m.