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ONTARIO – Almost 30 minutes after Santa Margarita’s season ended, Zaire Williams appeared through the doors of the locker room and buried her face into her father’s chest.

The lone senior on the team locked down Santa Barbara’s superlative scorer Amber Melgoza, holding her to 33 percent shooting, while penetrating the Dons defense time and time again to lead her team with 15 points.

But the perils of a team with just one senior caught up to the Eagles, anyway, leaving Williams spent after the 58-48 loss at Colony High on Saturday.

“We’ve been riding this train for so long,” Santa Margarita coach Matt Houser said. “It’s just one of those things where, could the magic keep going?

“Or just little things here and there. Missed free throws in the first half, wide open shots missed.”

A 15-0 run in the first half allowed the Dons to take control of the game and the Division 3 Southern California regional championshipat. Santa Margarita shot just 25.9 percent in the first half, turning the ball over 18 times in the game. It allowed the Dons to outscore the Eagles 30-16 in the first half, a deficit too tough for Santa Margarita to overcome.

“The tank’s empty,” Houser said.

The loss snapped an eight-game postseason winning streak for the Eagles (21-14), who won the CIF-SS Division 3A championship with eight players, starting two freshmen.

Williams was tasked with guarding Melgoza, who had games of 40, 38 and 34 points in the postseason. Almost immediately, she showed she was up to the challenge, sticking with her around screens and not allowing Melgoza to post up.

The Eagles ended the first quarter tied at 11 as Williams held Melgoza to 2-of-8 shooting.

Melgoza asserted herself in the second quarter and got to the free throw line, making five free throws in the first 3:17 of the quarter to push the Dons’ lead to 22-11. The Eagles missed their first six shots of the quarter.

The Dons (30-5) led by 13 going to the fourth, but the Eagles’ defense sparked a late run. Sheldon Cornwell scored a layup plus the foul to bring Santa Margarita within 45-39 with 3:03 to play. Cornwell finished with 11 points, while Tori Anderson had 13.

But back-to-back turnovers stifled the rally. Santa Barbara shot 11 of 12 from the free throw line in the last 70 seconds.

The Eagles players walked off the court heads down, but Houser said the young squad will be back.

“I’m not upset,” Houser said. “I’m not hurt because they gave everything in this game.”