The Esperanza Aztecs will head out on the road to take on the Lynwood Knights at 4:00 p.m. on Saturday. Each of these teams will be fighting to keep a win streak alive as Esperanza comes in on five and Lynwood on seven.
With a playoff game on the line, Esperanza rose to the challenge on Thursday. They took their match at home with ease, bagging a 70-37 win over the Eagles. Esperanza has made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won 14 matches by 22 points or more this season.
Esperanza relied on the efforts of Madilyn Lam, who scored 18 points along with eight assists and eight rebounds, and Charlotte Muller, who scored 24 points along with four steals. Lam has been hot recently, having posted two or more steals the last six times she's played. Alexa Muller was another key contributor, scoring eight points along with seven assists and three steals.
Meanwhile, Lynwood beat Culver City 52-44 on Thursday. Given Lynwood's advantage in MaxPreps' California basketball rankings (they are ranked 46th, while Culver City is ranked 176th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
It was another big night for Taliyah Mcferson, who scored 19 points along with seven rebounds. Another player making a difference was Shanilah Ewing, who scored 12 points along with four steals and two blocks.
Esperanza's victory was their seventh straight at home, which pushed their record up to 25-4. Those good results were due in large part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 64.7 points per game. As for Lynwood, they are on a roll lately: they've won eight of their last nine contests, which provided a massive bump to their 17-11 record this season.
Keep an eye on the arc in Saturday's contest: Esperanza have made nailing deep shots look easy this year this season, having averaged 8.5 threes per game. It's a different story for Lynwood, though, as they've been averaging only 3.6 threes per game. Given Esperanza's sizable advantage in that area, Lynwood will need to find a way to close that gap.
Esperanza might still be hurting after the 56-35 loss they got from Lynwood in their previous matchup back in December of 2017. Can Esperanza avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
