Basketball Game Preview: Valley Vikings vs. Albuquerque Academy Chargers

Valley and Albuquerque Academy are an even 5-5 against one another since April of 2021, but not for long. The Valley Vikings will square off against the Albuquerque Academy Chargers at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Valley has a tough task ahead: they'll enter the game with ten straight defeats, while Albuquerque Academy will come in with nine straight wins.

On Wednesday, Valley ended up a good deal behind Cottonwood Classical Prep and lost 63-49.

Meanwhile, Albuquerque Academy got the win against Bernalillo on Thursday by a conclusive 51-29. Given the Chargers' advantage in MaxPreps' New Mexico basketball rankings (they are ranked 16th, while the Spartans are ranked 75th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

Valley better keep an eye on Addie Spratley. She was instrumental in Albuquerque Academy's win, going 7 for 15 en route to 23 points along with seven rebounds and seven steals. The contest was Spratley's third in a row with at least ten points. Another player making a difference was Lily Skarsgard, who posted nine points in addition to six boards and three steals.

Albuquerque Academy smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 15 offensive boards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least nine offensive rebounds in 18 consecutive matches.

Valley's loss dropped their record down to 3-15. As for Albuquerque Academy, they are on a roll lately: they've won 11 of their last 13 games, which provided a nice bump to their 18-4 record this season.

Valley took a serious blow against Albuquerque Academy in their previous matchup two weeks ago, falling 57-12. That contest was all but decided by halftime, at which point Valley was down 33-6.