Basketball Recap: California City Takes Loss Despite Strong Performances from Malayah Ward and Genesis Castillo

California City was not able to break out of their rough patch on Friday as the team picked up their fourth straight defeat. They came up short against the Desert Scorpions, falling 59-37. While losing is never fun, the Ravens can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' California basketball rankings (they are ranked 1005th, while the Scorpions are ranked 500th).

Genesis Castillo and Malayah Ward certainly did their best on Friday to avoid the loss. Castillo went 8 for 11 on her way to 17 points and eight rebounds, while Ward dropped a double-double on 11 points and 13 boards. Ward is crushing it when it comes to boards: she's pulled down at least eight every time she's taken the court this season.

Destiny Hart continued her habit of posting crazy stat lines for Desert, dropping a triple-double on 16 points, ten boards, and ten steals. The team also got some help courtesy of Keira Gamboa, who went 6 of 13 on her way to 14 points.

California City's loss dropped their record down to 2-6. As for Desert, the victory (which was their third in a row) raised their record to 8-2.

California City didn't take long to hit the court again: they've already played their next match, a 61-10 defeat against Wasco on the 26th. As for Desert, they also wasted no time getting back out on the court and have already played their next contest, a 51-44 loss against Highland on the 26th.