San Marcos Girls’ Basketball Pulls Away in Second Half for 49-36 Victory Over Rival Santa Barbara
The Royals Snapped a Four-Game Channel League Losing Streak
Hot shooting by Natasha Bender and suffocating defense late in the game boosted the San Marcos High girls basketball team to a 49-36 victory over rival Santa Barbara on Thursday night at the Thunderhut.
The Royals dropped their previous four Channel League contests and desperately needed a victory to get their season back on track.
“At this time the five seniors have been with me all four years so they know what is expected of them,” said San Marcos coach Tiffany Simms. “I just feel like I’ve got to stop talking. They know what is expected of them. They know what game they can play and all I can do is say ‘it’s now time for you to be a leader of this team and run it how it’s supposed to run.’”
The first half was tight throughout as Bender and Santa Barbara’s Dayzia Mendoza engaged in an impressive scoring duel.
Bender knocked down five first-half three-pointers to account for 15 of her team-high 17 points. Mendoza scored 16 of her game-high 18 points in the first half, including four three pointers.
“Since she was a freshman I knew that game was in her. Tonight she believed that game was in her,” said Simms of Bender. “That’s all that it was, just a flip of confidence and knowing ‘Ok coach you’re right I can be a threat.’”
The Royals went into the locker room at halftime with a 28-22, but they were unhappy with their overall performance. A switch to man-to-man defense helped San Marcos pull away in the second half.
“It’s no fun not winning against your arrival, but we’re moving in the right direction and we’re going to build from that,” said Santa Barbara High coach Andrew Butcher. “We were soft at times. I thought they were tougher than us. We lost some shooters in the first half, which really hurt us and we didn’t rebound as well as we’d like but again that’s San Marcos hitting shots and rebounding the ball.”
The Dons had their best five players on the floor together for the first time this season which helped them keep the game competitive.
In addition to Mendoza’s big scoring night, senior Jaz Gordon chipped in 10 points for Santa Barbara.
Mia Martinez-Tomatis continued her strong senior season with 13 points for San Marcos. With the victory the Royals improved to 9-7 overall and 2-4 in Channel League play.