Preview: Gabrielino Eagles vs. Villa Park Spartans
Two dominant guards in Mia Lim and Bailey Roczey are getting ready to go toe-to-toe. The Gabrielino Eagles will look to defend their home court on Saturday against the Villa Park Spartans at 7:00 p.m. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.
Gabrielino had already proven themselves in the regular season, and didn't miss a beat now that it's playoff time. They blew past Simi Valley, posting a 70-31 win at home. The victory was familiar territory for Gabrielino who now have nine in a row.
Lim was her usual excellent self, scoring 34 points along with seven rebounds and three steals. That makes it four consecutive games in which she has scored at least a third of Gabrielino's points. The team also got some help courtesy of Paris Ngeam, who scored 12 points along with five steals and two blocks.
Meanwhile, Villa Park came tearing into Thursday's matchup with seven straight wins (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 25.7 points) and they left with even more momentum. They blew past Victor Valley 51-9 at home. Given Villa Park's advantage in MaxPreps' California basketball rankings (they are ranked 225th, while Victor Valley is ranked 961st), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Gabrielino pushed their record up to 18-7 with that victory, which was their eighth straight at home. Those victories were due in large part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 52.0 points per game. As for Villa Park, they have been performing incredibly well recently as they've won nine of their last ten matchups, which provided a nice bump to their 18-10 record this season.
Gabrielino beat Villa Park 65-54 when the teams last played back in December of 2014. Will Gabrielino repeat their success, or does Villa Park have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
