Basketball Recap: Liberty Falls Short Against Ranked Sunnyslope

On Monday, Liberty faced Sunnyslope in a battle between two of the state's top teams. The Liberty Lions lost to the Sunnyslope Vikings on the road by a 67-49 margin. The Lions haven't had much luck with the Vikings recently, as the team's come up short the last five times they've met.

Liberty's defeat came despite a true team effort from the offense, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was Francesca Sofia, who went 8 for 19 on her way to 22 points in addition to five boards and four steals. That was a full 44.9% of Liberty's points, marking the fourth time in a row she's posted more than a third of the team's points. The team also got some help courtesy of Lilliana Welstad, who had four points and 13 boards.

It was another big night for Teagan McIlroy, who put up seven points in addition to eight steals and six assists for Sunnyslope. McIlroy is on a roll when it comes to steals, as she's now grabbed two or more in the last 26 games she's played dating back to last season. Another player making a difference was Maggie Luba, who dropped a double-double on 15 points and ten boards.

Liberty's loss dropped their record down to 6-2. As for Sunnyslope, they pushed their record up to 6-0 with the victory, which was their seventh straight at home dating back to last season.

Liberty didn't take long to hit the court again: they've already played their next matchup, a 69-58 win against Mountain View on the 10th. As for Sunnyslope, they will welcome Mesa at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday. Sunnyslope is strutting in with some offensive muscle as they've averaged 75 points per game this season.