Carly Letendre and Kindah Ahmad-Reda combined for 35 points as the Dos Pueblos High girls’ basketball team secured a 46-38 victory over Oxnard on Thursday night at Sovine Gym.
The Chargers entered the fourth quarter clinging to a 33-32 lead but turned up the intensity in the final period to pull away.
“When it’s the second round of the league and you’ve already seen your opponent, you know they are going to come more prepared. They are going to know what you run,” said Dos Pueblos coach Andy Casanueva. “You’ve got to get more creative or have some great individual talent, and Carly and Kindah are pretty hard to stop in the open floor.”
In addition to star players Letendre and Ahmad-Reda, the Chargers have had freshmen Charlotte Gardiner and Penelopen Frazer step into the rotation this season after versatile junior Taylor Grant was lost for the year due to a knee injury.
Gardiner finished with seven points, and Frazer chipped in four.
The Chargers got off to a strong start, as a corner three-pointer by Letendre gave them a 16-9 lead at the end of the first quarter.
The lead was extended to 25-13 on a driving layup by Ahmad-Reda with 55 seconds remaining in the second quarter, but Oxnard responded with a quick 5-0 run to cut the deficit to 25-18 at halftime.
That momentum carried over into the second half, as the Yellowjackets opened the third quarter with another 5-0 run capped by a Kai Buhain three-pointer, cutting the Dos Pueblos lead to 25-23.
A basket inside by Destinee Herrera tied the score at 32-32 with just under a minute remaining in the third quarter.
“It would have been easy to let this one slip away, and they didn’t,” Casanueva said. “I’m super proud of them. They grinded out this win.”
A huge three-pointer early in the fourth quarter by Gardiner gave the Chargers a 36-32 lead. Frazer followed with a steal and fast-break layup that put Dos Pueblos ahead 42-36 with just under three minutes to play.
Letendre salted the game away by going 4-for-5 from the free-throw line in the final period.
“We’ve talked about what our goals are moving forward in the league and how it is a race between a few teams, and Oxnard is definitely one of them,” Casanueva said. “It’s nice to get two wins against them. You create a little bit of separation.”
With the win, Dos Pueblos improved to 12-10 overall and 6-2 in Channel League play.
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