Basketball Game Preview: Valley Christian Defenders vs. Village Christian Crusaders

Valley Christian is 2-8 against Village Christian since January of 2020 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Friday. The Valley Christian Defenders will be playing in front of their home fans against the Village Christian Crusaders at 7:30 p.m. Keep an eye on the score for this one: both posted some lofty point totals in their previous games.

Having struggled with three losses in a row, Valley Christian turned things around against Coronado on Saturday. They came out on top against the Islanders by a score of 56-49.

Meanwhile, there's no place like home for Village Christian, who bounced back after a loss on the road on Tuesday. They took down Maranatha 77-58 on Thursday. Given the Crusaders' advantage in MaxPreps' California basketball rankings (they are ranked 124th, while the Minutemen are ranked 379th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

Village Christian's victory was their eighth straight at home dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 14-9. Those victories came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 81.1 points per game. As for Valley Christian, their win bumped their record up to 11-15.

Valley Christian took a serious blow against Village Christian when the teams last played two weeks ago, falling 87-36. That game was all but decided by halftime, at which point Valley Christian was down 46-24.