Basketball Game Preview: Mt. Carmel Sundevils vs. Valley Center Jaguars

The Mt. Carmel Sundevils will take on the Valley Center Jaguars at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday. Both come into the match bolstered by wins in their previous matches.

Mt. Carmel is headed into the contest after thoroughly thrashing San Pasqual: they outscored them in every quarter. Given that consistent dominance, it should come as no surprise that Mt. Carmel blew San Pasqual out of the water with a 65-23 final score. The Sundevils pushed the score to 45-17 by the end of the third, a deficit the Golden Eagles had little chance of recovering from.

Ariana Gonzalez

Assists (Career)

01/17/25 @ San Pasqual	7
01/14/25 vs Escondido	6
01/09/25 vs Vista	5
11/23/24 vs Escondido Charter	4
12/10/24 vs Canyon Crest Academy	4

Mt. Carmel found their leader in freshman Ariana Gonzalez, who almost dropped a double-double on nine points and 11 rebounds. The dominant performance also gave Gonzalez a new career-high in assists (seven). Randi Arcala was another key player, putting up four points along with seven boards and three steals.

Mt. Carmel was working as a unit and finished the game with 16 assists. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as San Pasqual only racked up four assists.

Meanwhile, Valley Center hadn't done well against Tri-City Christian recently (they were 0-4 in their previous four matchups), but they didn't let the past get in their way on Monday. Valley Center snuck past Tri-City Christian with a 35-31 win. The victory made it back-to-back wins for the Jaguars.

Mt. Carmel's victory was their third straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 10-8. Those victories came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 63.3 points per game. As for Valley Center, the win got them back to even at 8-8.

Mt. Carmel came up short against Valley Center when the teams last played back in February of 2024, falling 53-44. Can Mt. Carmel avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.