The Dos Pueblos girls basketball team celebrated Senior Night on Thursday in Sovine Gym, but San Marcos had all the seniority in a 42-35 come-from-behind Channel League victory.
The Royals’ senior trio of Kelley Chilton, Jeannette Mendoza and Kalley Ridgway led a second half surge that included six 3-pointers.
“This win was just great; it was really emotional, I mean, I cried,” said an unabashed Mendoza, who had a team-high 14 points and 13 rebounds. “We were down the whole game and we came back in the fourth quarter.”
The Chargers, who were led by their lone senior Meghan Murphy’s 16 points, took a six-point lead into the final quarter but lost their way, failing to make another field goal after Sara Crane put in a layup with just over two minutes left in the third quarter.
Until Murphy connected on two free throws in the final minute, San Marcos had outscored DP 18-1 since Crane’s bucket.
“They have the know-how down the stretch,” said Dos Pueblos head coach Maynard Pilapil, who has five freshman playing prominent roles. “I felt that we took some pretty good shots and had some pretty good looks but there was just a lid on the rim.”
“We don’t have that much experience on the team, so I think it showed that San Marcos had so many seniors and experience in the end,” said Murphy.
As Dos Pueblos cooled down, San Marcos heated up.
Chilton knocked down 3 of her 4 treys after the break and Ridgway hit two in the fourth quarter.
Sandwiched between the two Ridgway long-balls, a defender didn’t pick up junior Kimmy Sanchez so she pulled up from straight away 3-point land and buried the triple to give the Royals their first lead of the game at 34-33.
“Oh my gosh, it feels so good. We were just able to stay positive and upbeat and it really paid off,” said a thrilled Chilton – and for good reason. “I don’t think I’ve ever shot that well in this big of a game and it felt really good.”
The Chargers implemented a press coming out of the halftime locker room up 19-14 that bothered the Royals. A Jasmine Mata 3-pointer gave DP an 11-point lead – its biggest lead of the second half at 30-19 at the half-way point of the quarter.
Then Mendoza scored on a putback off her own shot and Chilton swished her next trey to trim the lead to six and the comeback was on.
“It’s frustrating because we try as hard as we can on defense and just do what we can, but you have to give them credit, they’re good shots and we had a hand up,” said Murphy, who was grateful for the pre-game ceremony that included flowers for teammates and hugs from family.
“The team’s definitely going to miss her,” noted Pilapil. “I’m just really happy for her four years because out of 1200 students at this school, I got one baller for the class of ’09 and that says a lot.”
The Chargers’ final game of the season is next Thursday at Santa Barbara while the Royals have two more – Santa Barbara and Ventura.
SAN MARCOS 42, DOS PUEBLOS 35
SAN MARCOS – Hyslop 1, Chilton 12, Brown 2, Mendoza 14, Ridgway 6, Sanchez 5, Ochoa 2. Totals – 15, 4-10, 42
DOS PUEBLOS – Murphy 16, Hoover-Purter 3, Sessler 2, Escalante 7, Mata 3, Crane 4. Totals 13, 5-7, 35.
San Marcos 5 9 12 16 – 42
Dos Pueblos 15 4 13 3 – 35
3-Pointers – SM 7 (Chilton 4, Ridgway 2, Sanchez), DP 2 (Escalante 2). Total Fouls – SM 11, DP 9.
