Preview: St. Joseph Academy Crusaders vs. Bishop's Knights
The St. Joseph Academy Crusaders will head out on the road to challenge the Bishop's Knights at 4:00 p.m. on Friday. St. Joseph Academy will have to bring their A-game into this one, as they are staring down a pretty big deficit in the MaxPreps California Rankings (they are ranked 519th, while the Knights are ranked 172nd).
St. Joseph Academy struggled with three-point shooting accuracy on Tuesday (the Lancers were 23% better) and sadly the final score reflected it. St. Joseph Academy was beaten by the Lancers 58-30. St. Joseph Academy has not had much luck with the Lancers recently, as the team's come up short the last two times they've met.
Luciana Aguilar put forth a good effort for the losing side as she dropped a double-double on 16 points and ten rebounds. She is trending in the right direction, as she's improved her point production for three games straight. Another player making a difference was Pamela Torres, who scored eight points along with eight rebounds and two steals.
In what's become a running theme this season, Bishop's gave their fans yet another huge win on Tuesday. They put the hurt on Classical Academy with a sharp 42-21 victory. Bishop's pushed the score to 35-11 by the end of the third, a deficit the Caimans cut but never quite recovered from.
Margo Leong and Ayla Johnson were among the main playmakers for Bishop's as the former almost dropped a double-double on ten points and nine rebounds and the latter scored 18 points. Leong hasn't dropped below nine rebounds for three straight games. Kamaili Lasua was another key contributor, scoring five points along with eight rebounds and five assists.
St. Joseph Academy's defeat dropped their record down to 12-14. As for Bishop's, they have been performing well recently as they've won 13 of their last 16 contests, which provided a nice bump to their 19-5 record this season.
This contest is one where the number of possessions is likely to be a big factor: St. Joseph Academy have been smashing the glass this season, having averaged 24.3 rebounds per game. However, it's not like Bishop's struggles in that department as they've been averaging 24.7 rebounds per game. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
St. Joseph Academy might still be hurting after the 62-38 defeat they got from the Knights when the teams last played back in January. Can St. Joseph Academy avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
