Basketball Game Preview: Mission San Jose Warriors vs. Moreau Catholic Mariners

The Mission San Jose Warriors will head out to square off against the Moreau Catholic Mariners at 7:00 p.m. on Friday.

Last Wednesday, Mission San Jose ended up a good deal behind Washington and lost 47-32.

Meanwhile, Moreau Catholic had already won seven in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 21.6 points) and they went ahead and made it eight on Wednesday. They came out on top against the Colts by a score of 42-35. Given the Mariners' advantage in MaxPreps' California basketball rankings (they are ranked 158th, while the Colts are ranked 348th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

Moreau Catholic's win came from a few key players Mission San Jose will need to keep an eye on. One of the most notable was Kaliya Kirkwood, who posted five points in addition to 21 boards and six steals. She is on a roll when it comes to steals, as she's now grabbed two or more in the last seven games she's played. The team also got some help courtesy of Elisa Ortega, who went 6 for 15 on her way to 12 points.

Moreau Catholic smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 15 offensive rebounds. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least eight offensive boards in 20 consecutive games.

Moreau Catholic has been performing well recently as they've won nine of their last 11 contests, which provided a nice bump to their 14-7 record this season. The wins came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 52.1 points per game. As for Mission San Jose, their defeat ended a three-game streak of wins at home and dropped them to 10-10.

Things could have been worse for Mission San Jose, but things could have been a whole lot better as they took a 58-43 loss to Moreau Catholic when the teams last played on January 7th. Can Mission San Jose avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.