Another tight tussle between the Santa Fe High and Capital girls as the Jaguars came out on top at home via a 54-52 final, the second time they won by two over the District 5-5A cross- town rivals, this time on a 3-point play in the final seconds

It didn’t have the capacity crowd, the drama or first place in District 5-5A at stake as the boys did Thursday night, but once again the Santa Fe High and Capital girls played until the final buzzer as the Jaguars prevailed 54-52 over the visiting Demonettes Friday night.

The last time the cross-town rivals met up, it was in the Capital City tournament and Capital got behind 25 points, 13 rebounds and five blocks from 6-foot-1 junior Ethena Silva to claim a 58-56 victory. This time, it was 5-9 junior Rebecca Sorensen providing the spark with a game-high 18 points.

This, too, came down to the final seconds when, with Santa Fe High taking a 52-51 lead on back-to-back lead changes, and after a foul on Demonettes sophomore Kabreya Garcia Romero with four seconds left, Jags’ senior Martinez brought the finish via a 3-point play capped by a successful free throw.

This followed three time outs called by Capital head coach Darren Cassados in the last five minutes, one with a minute to go. it also followed 11 lead changes and five ties, and Martinez wound up converting seven charity tosses to finish with 14 points, eight in the second half and Silva added 11.

But it was Sorensen who took over with a huge second half, scoring 10 in the third quarter and a dozen for the half. At one point in the third quarter, she brought a 35-34 advantage with a basket, then followed with a foul shot and back-to-back buckets to up the margin to 40-34. Before that, she tied the score at 27-all with a basket and her free throw again put the home side in the lead at 29-28.

Her team tossed in a pair of 3s, one each by Silva and Martinez. The Demonettes made five, three by 5-2 junior Gabby Malczewski, and one each by Romero and sophomore Alexis Espinosa.

But Santa Fe High didn’t fare well in foul shooting and had two players with four personal fouls, and three with three. For Capital, only senior Angelique Cole had four. The largest Santa Fe High lead was 25-14 on a Malczewski 3 in the second quarter. The largest Jags lead was 25-18 on a Sorensen run in the third quarter.

The first quarter, as was the remainder of the contest, was tight. There were two lead changes, two ties and Santa Fe High was up 16-12 as the last eight points came on free throws. The Demonettes also held a 27-22 advantage at halftime, and 40-38 after three quarters.

Only four players scored for Santa Fe High, with Malczewski having the team-high 12 points, 5-4 sophomore Olivia Montoya tossing in 10, Romero 9 and 6-1 freshman Zuriel Vigil 6. For Capital, Sorensen, Martinez and Silva had 43 of its 54 points.

It was the fifth straight setback for the Demonettes to drop them to 8-12 overall and 0-4 in district. The Jaguars improved to 8-12 overall and 2-2 in district after being routed at first place Albuquerque Sandia, and also ended a 5-game losing skein.

The teams meet again on Feb. 18 at Santa Fe High.

On Tuesday, Capital plays at Albuquerque Manzano. The same night, the Demonettes are home to Albuquerque Rio Grande.

It’s a young Santa Fe High varsity, with only one senior, Tyra Rosetta, four juniors, six sophomores, and three freshmen. Not so for Capital, whose top players are juniors Sorensen and Silva, but it also has nine seniors, four juniors, and one sophomore.