Basketball Recap: Reagan Mccarthy's Big Game Can't Quite Lead Palo Verde Valley over Central

Palo Verde Valley was not able to break out of their rough patch on Tuesday as the team picked up their eighth straight loss. They took a 54-36 bruising from the Central Spartans. Unfortunately, that's the second time they've come up short against the Spartans this season, as they also lost their prior matchup 57-51 back in January.

Palo Verde Valley's defeat came despite a true team effort with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was Reagan McCarthy, who went 6-for-10 to rack up 14 points. Another player making a difference was Jaslene Crowe, who posted ten points.

Central found their leader in sophomore Maryanne Barrett, who dropped a double-double with 21 points and 11 steals. Central is undefeated when Barrett posts five or more steals, but 8-11 otherwise. The team also got some help courtesy of Victoria Zamora, who earned 20 points and four steals.

Palo Verde Valley's loss dropped their record down to 8-12. As for Central, the win was the third in a row for them, bringing their record for this year to 15-11.

Both squads will have to hit the road in their upcoming games. Palo Verde Valley will take on Imperial at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Imperial is strutting in with some offensive muscle as they've averaged 50.1 points per game this season. As for Central, they will challenge Vincent Memorial at 5:30 p.m. on Friday.