Basketball Recap: El Camino Real's Loss Ends Four-Game Winning Streak at Home

El Camino Real entered their contest against Birmingham on Friday without any home losses, but there's a first time for everything. The El Camino Real Royals took a 63-56 hit to the loss column at the hands of the Birmingham Patriots. Sadly, that's the second time they've come up short against the Royals this season, as they also lost their prior matchup 66-53 back in January.

Despite the loss, El Camino Real still got an impressive performance from Laila Bowens, who almost dropped a double-double on 26 points and nine rebounds. With that strong performance, Bowens is now averaging an impressive 15.4 points per game. Taryn Watrin was another key player, going 5 for 12 on her way to 11 points and eight boards.

Birmingham's victory was a true team effort, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was Kayla Tanijiri, who went 5 of 12 en route to 18 points. The team also got some help courtesy of Kamora Coleman, who posted 11 points in addition to six rebounds and three steals.

El Camino Real's loss ended a four-game streak of wins at home and dropped them to 10-12. As for Birmingham, they are on a roll lately: they've won ten of their last 11 matches, which provided a nice bump to their 17-6 record this season.

El Camino Real and Birmingham should be looking forward to their upcoming games as both have a sizable advantage in the MaxPreps California Rankings. El Camino Real (ranked 183rd) will meet Cleveland (ranked 732nd) at 4:00 p.m. on Monday. El Camino Real will be looking to keep their four-game home win streak alive. Similarly, Birmingham will face off against Taft at 4:00 p.m. on Wednesday up 669 places (52 vs. 721).