Short and to the point.

That was the pregame, halftime and postgame assessment Española Valley head coach Ron Drake had for his team Friday night in Toby Roybal Memorial Gymnasium.

Unlike most coaches who approach critical district games with a sense of intensity and laborious instruction, Drake took another approach when his Lady Sundevils faced host Santa Fe High for the second time in top-heavy 2AAAA.

"You don't have to say much when everyone on the team knows what we have to do," Drake said after his club claimed a 53-43 victory to force a tie along with the Demonettes atop the district standings. "It was pretty simple. Box out. Play defense. Contest every one of their shots. No need to say anything else."

Play defense, the Lady Sundevils (20-3, 4-1) did. They erased a 24-22 halftime deficit with a dominant third quarter in which they forced 12 turnovers and held the Demonettes (15-6, 4-1) to just one field goal.

In turn, the Española offense got scoring from five different players during a decisive 13-2 run.

"We came in here pretty confident," said Lauren Quintana, Española shooting guard. "We're a defensive team and coach, he's always talking about defense, defense, defense. If we played it like he wanted us to, we knew we'd win."

Quintana finished with a game-high 15 points.

It was her layup off a baseline drive less than two minutes into the second half that gave the Lady Sundevils a 26-25 lead they would never relinquish.

Whereas Santa Fe High won the teams' previous meeting in Española by converting 26 free throws after opening the game with an 18-2 lead, the Demonettes were their own worst enemy when dealing with the Lady Sundevils' defense.

They converted just 33 percent of their shots from the field and finished 14-for-29 from the free-throw line.

They also turned the ball over 29 times and had starting center Sabrina Lozada-Cabbage hamstrung with foul trouble most of the game.

"It was a revenge thing," said Laura Duran, Española point guard. "They got us good the last time and we all talked about how big of a game this was. We knew we had to have it."

Santa Fe was also hurt by an apparent head injury to starting guard Kayla Herrera. She went flying into the stands while chasing an Española player downcourt. After she fell into the bleachers, Demonettes head coach Elmer Chavez said she emerged struggling to remain alert.

"She stayed in there the rest of the way on heart," Chavez said. "That's the kind of player she is."

Lozada-Cabbage finished with 13 points to lead Santa Fe, whose nine-game winning streak dating to mid-December came to an end.

Mariah Solano added 10 while Jackie Martinez had seven points, 12 rebounds and a blocked shot.

The win was particularly sweet for Drake. The former head coach at Santa Fe High earned his 100th victory in five seasons with Española Valley. He is 100-32 with the Lady Sundevils after posting 210 wins while with the Demonettes.

"It's been a tough week for us with a lot of distractions going on right now," he said, referring to an ongoing investigation into an alleged hazing incident last summer while the team was at a camp in North Carolina. "I have to get positive motivations in their head, and this was a good way for that to happen."