The Valencia Vikings and the Arleta Mustangs will round out the year against one another at at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday. Keep an eye on the score for this one: both posted some lofty point totals in their previous games.
Valencia's tournament run continued when they took on Bakersfield Christian on Saturday. Valencia walked away with a 68-60 win over Bakersfield Christian. Given the Vikings' advantage in MaxPreps' California basketball rankings (they are ranked 80th, while the Eagles are ranked 360th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
| 12/21/24 vs Bakersfield Christian | 26 |
| 12/20/24 vs St. Joseph | 40 |
| 12/19/24 vs Palisades | 17 |
| 12/14/24 @ Palm Desert | 16 |
| 12/13/24 vs West Ranch | 25 |
Valencia's success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but Kamilla Basyrova led the charge by putting up 26 points. Basyrova's afternoon made it five games in a row in which she has scored at least ten points. Keira McLaughlin was another key player, dropping a double-double on 14 points and ten rebounds.
Meanwhile, Arleta came tearing into last Saturday's match with three straight wins (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 43 points) and they left with even more momentum. They simply couldn't be stopped as they easily beat the Toreadors 59-30. The Mustangs have made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won four contests by 25 points or more this season.
Arleta's win came from a few key players Valencia will need to keep an eye on. One of the most notable was Justine Mejia, who posted 17 points and seven rebounds. The team also got some help courtesy of Aakira Smith, who went 8 of 16 on her way to 20 points and seven rebounds.
Arleta smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 18 offensive boards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least ten offensive rebounds in 14 consecutive games dating back to last season.
Valencia has been performing incredibly well recently as they've won six of their last seven matchups, which provided a nice bump to their 11-2 record this season. The wins came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 66.1 points per game. As for Arleta, they pushed their record up to 7-2 with the victory, which was their seventh straight at home dating back to last season.
Rebounding is likely to be a big factor in this contest: Valencia has crashing the boards this season, having averaged 33.8 boards per game. However, it's not like Arleta struggles in that department as they've been averaging 37 rebounds. With both teams battling to corral missed shots, we'll see if one team can grab an edge Check MaxPreps after the match for a full breakdown of the game, commentary, and other basketball content.
