San Marcos stubbornly hung around against a solid Saugus squad on Saturday at the Gold Coast Tournament, but the Centurions held off the Royals down the stretch, handing the tourney hosts a 45-36 loss at the Thunderhut.
Three players — Marissa Unzueta, Kimmy Sanchez and Desiree Porter-Ray — scored nine points while Vanessa Curiel added eight for the Royals, who went 1-3 in the tourney against a strong field.
“Although we went 1-3, we still feel like we’re ending the tournament on an upswing,” said coach Kristyn Miller. “We got the wind knocked out of us with Agoura and things fell apart against Chaminade. But we came back with a strong win over Santa Ynez, and we definitely felt like today we were in it the entire game.”
Saugus led the whole way, but San Marcos cut the lead to four at 31-27 after a Curiel lay-up with 5:12 to play. It quickly got back up to seven, and the Royals tried catching up by intentionally fouling in the final three minutes. Saugus, however, nailed every free throw down the stretch. Kaylynn Martin went 10-for-10 from the line in the game.
Porter-Ray, a junior forward, had a breakout game with 20 points against Santa Ynez and was named to the all-tourney squad.
“This is my first time making an all-tournament team so I’m really excited,” she said. “Yesterday and today we really gave it all we got, which is why we’re satisfied.”
