Twelve months ago, Rancho Buena Vista won the NIT Gold Division in the SoCal Holiday Prep Classic.

This year, the Longhorns were looking to do the same in the NCAA Silver Division Championship game, taking on San Marin of Novato on Saturday at West Hills High School.

Rancho Buena Vista limited the Mustangs to a combined 14 points in the second and third quarters, fueling them to a 55-51 championship win.

“I’m really proud of the kids,” Longhorns coach Landon Cardenas said after the game. “I’m glad that everybody got to experience what it feels like to win a tournament championship and it’s really important at this time of the year.”

The 14 combined points in the middle quarters was due to a defensive switch.

With two minutes left in the opening quarter, Cardenas called timeout and went to a 2-3 zone defense.

“It was a really good adjustment,” Longhorns senior Camille Dake said. “We forced them to move the ball more and get it to both sides of the floor. I think it interrupted their momentum, which definitely helped swing the game.”

Dake, who scored her 1,000th career point earlier in the tournament, led the way for the Longhorns (9-3) with 24 points, including a 3-pointer with two seconds left in the second quarter to give RBV a 30-29 lead going into halftime.

“It was really important,” Dake said of the late 3-pointer to close the first half. “It helped get our offense going because it was a little slow in the second quarter.”

Cardenas said Dake’s versatility, to not only score, but to pass and defend goes a long way to the success of the Longhorns.

“She’s everything for us, she’s like a leader by example,” Cardenas said of Dake, who averages 16.1 points and 9.1 rebounds. “That’s so important for us because kids see her the way she moves, and they play off that. We ask her to do so much and it’s a testament to how great of a player she is.”

Throughout the game, Dake faced pressure from San Marin (10-3), who was ranked 113th in the state, according to MaxPreps.

However, the press did not stop Rancho Buena Vista’s offense.

Instead, it opened the floor for her teammates, including sophomore Arika Gonzales, who had 13 points, including a three-pointer in the fourth quarter to stop a 6-0 Mustangs run that had cut the lead down to three.

“She’s worked so hard, and she didn’t have a lot of an identity before the year,” Cardenas said of Gonzales. “About a week before our first game, we started to say, ‘You’re a shooter and you can shoot any shot you want.’

“When you give a kid that power, they own it, and they start to play almost better than what they’ve ever been capable of.”

Also in double figures for the Longhorns was senior Tiaira Richardson with 10.

San Marin was led by sophomore Brianna Nottingham with 13 points. In addition, junior Abigail Bartholo had 11 points and senior Quincy Dean had 10.

Up next for Rancho Buena Vista, they will head to the Bay Area next week for more tough competition, highlighted by playing in the Sabrina Ionescu Showcase.

Originally Published: December 28, 2024 at 4:33 PM PST