SANTIAGO (Chile) – The ending of El Salvador’s narrow loss to Dominican Republic Sunday afternoon at Centro de Deportes Colectivos in Santiago, Chile, was a bittersweet moment for the Central American nation. Had Hillary Martínez’s runner gone in as time expired, it would’ve represented El Salvador’s first win in the history of the Women’s AmeriCup tournament. Her desperate attempt off the backboard wasn’t particularly close in the end, handing the team their sixth loss in an equal number of games spanning two editions of the tournament (after making their debut in 2021). However, the heartbreaking ending, after leading for 32:49 of the game and being up by as many as 11 points, couldn’t hide the strides being made by José Santana’s squad.
Sunday’s game had plenty of positive takeaways— beginning with the fact that the 2-point loss was the smallest margin of defeat in AmeriCup history. The team had lost their first 5 games by an average of 52.8 points.
Furthermore, Martínez scored 22 points to establish a new team high (beating the 20 scored by Emily Tevez in 2021 against Colombia). Likewise, Kimberly Villalobos’ 13 rebounds are the new high mark by a player from her country in the event’s history (surpassing her previous mark of 11 against Colombia in 2021). Villalobos also notched her country’s second-ever double-double after producing 12 points along those 13 boards and now has both of them to her name.
El Salvador played a solid game, holding its opponent to 36.4 percent from the field while turning their 18 turnovers into 24 points. The team also had a 9-to-10 steal-to-turnover ratio and battled the Dominicans to a stalemate in points in the paint. That long-awaited first win feels closer than ever. Winless Argentina and defending champion Brazil are up next on their schedule on Tuesday and Wednesday. FIBA