The Evergreen Valley Cougars entered their tilt with the Branham Bruins with seven consecutive wins but they'll enter their next game with eight. Evergreen Valley sure made it a nail-biter, but they managed to escape with a 60-57 win over Branham on Tuesday. Having run the score up that high, both teams might be doing some extra defensive drills very soon.
Evergreen Valley's victory was a true team effort, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was Lealah Rowden, who dropped a double-double on 18 points and 11 rebounds. Rowden hasn't dropped below eight rebounds for six straight games. Ryka Aprameyan was another key contributor, scoring 24 points along with six rebounds and two steals.
When it comes to explaining why Branham lost, one person who can't be blamed is Quinn Godfrey. Despite the final result, she scored 44 points. That was a full 77.2% of Branham's points, marking the third time in a row she's earned more than a third of the team's points.
Evergreen Valley has been performing well recently as they've won nine of their last 12 contests, which provided a nice bump to their 14-5 record this season. As for Branham, their defeat ended a six-game streak of away wins and brought them to 15-2.
Evergreen Valley will head out on the road to face off against Pioneer at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday. Pioneer is coming into the contest hot, having won their last four games. As for Branham, they will be playing in front of their home fans against Christopher at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday. Christopher will have to bring their A-game into this one, as they are staring down a pretty big deficit in the MaxPreps California Rankings (they are ranked 133rd, while Branham is ranked 25th).
