The Ponderosa Mustangs's recent rough patch got a bit rougher on Friday after their fourth straight defeat. They fell 64-54 to Mountain Vista. The defeat unfortunately continues a disappointing trend for Ponderosa in their matchups with Mountain Vista: they've now lost three in a row.
Ponderosa's loss came despite strong showings from Maddison Neale and Shae Heiden. Neale shot 5-for-9 from deep and dropped a double-double on 24 points and 12 rebounds, while Heiden scored 18 points. That was a full 44.4% of Ponderosa's points, marking the fifth time in a row she's earned more than a third of the team's points.
Ponderosa struggled to get the ball back on offense and finished the game with only four offensive rebounds. They were crushed by their opponents in that department as Mountain Vista pulled down 22 offensive rebounds.
Grace Roscoe was her usual excellent self, dropping a double-double on 22 points and 19 rebounds for Mountain Vista. Roscoe has been hot recently, having posted 12 or more rebounds the last six times she's played. The team also got some help courtesy of Kennedy Spellman, who scored 15 points along with three steals.
Ponderosa has not been sharp recently as the team has lost eight of their last nine games, which put a noticeable dent in their 5-16 record this season. As for Mountain Vista, the win (which was their third in a row) raised their record to 9-11.
Both squads will have to hit the road in their upcoming games. Ponderosa's road trip will continue as they head out to face Legend at 5:30 p.m. on February 13th. The timing is sure in Legend's favor as the team sits on five straight wins at home while Ponderosa has been banged up by seven consecutive losses on the road. As for Mountain Vista, they will face off against Douglas County at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday. Hopefully Mountain Vista focused on turnovers this week since the team gave up eight on Friday.
