Recap: Evergreen Valley Cougars vs. Branham Bruins
The Evergreen Valley Cougars entered their tilt with the Branham Bruins with seven consecutive wins but they'll enter their next game with eight. Evergreen Valley sure made it a nail-biter, but they managed to escape with a 60-57 win over Branham on Tuesday. Having run the score up that high, both teams might be doing some extra defensive drills very soon.
Evergreen Valley's success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but Lealah Rowden led the charge by dropping a double-double on 18 points and 11 rebounds. Rowden has been hot recently, having posted eight or more rebounds the last six times she's played. Ryka Aprameyan was another key contributor, scoring 24 points along with six rebounds and two steals.
When it comes to explaining why Branham lost, one person who can't be blamed is Quinn Godfrey. Despite the final result, she scored 44 points. That was a full 77.2% of Branham's points, marking the third time in a row she's earned more than a third of the team's points.
Evergreen Valley has been performing well recently as they've won nine of their last 12 matches, which provided a nice bump to their 14-5 record this season. As for Branham, their loss ended a six-game streak of away wins and brought them to 15-2.
Evergreen Valley will head out on the road to face off against Pioneer at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday. Pioneer is coming into the match hot, having won their last four games. As for Branham, they will be playing at home against Christopher at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday. Christopher 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 133rd, while Branham is ranked 25th).
