The Lakeside Lancers and the Garden Grove Argonauts will face off at 1:30 p.m. on Friday without much rest having both just played. Lakeside has now lost nine straight, leaving the team hunting for their first win since the fifth.
Lakeside's tournament run continued when they took on Tarbut V' Torah on Thursday. Lakeside received a blow as they fell 72-55 to Tarbut V' Torah. While losing is never fun, the Lancers can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' California basketball rankings (they are ranked 1128th, while the Lions are ranked 309th).
| 12/26/24 vs Tarbut V' Torah | 5 |
| 12/07/24 vs Santa Rosa Academy | 3 |
| 01/29/24 @ Canyon Springs | 3 |
| 12/10/24 vs Temescal Canyon | 2 |
| 02/07/24 @ Workman | 2 |
Despite their defeat, Lakeside saw several players rise to the challenge and make noteworthy plays. Akilie Bridges, who went 7 of 8 en route to 14 points along with six boards and five blocks, was perhaps the best of all. Those five blocks gave Bridges a new career-high. The team also got some help courtesy of Jeremiah Norman, who posted eight points and six steals.
Meanwhile, Garden Grove was able to grind out a solid victory over Westminster on Thursday, taking the game 72-60.
Lakeside better focus on containing Neiman Quach and Ethan Juarez as the pair were huge in Garden Grove's win. Quach had 26 points and five rebounds, while Juarez almost dropped a double-double on 15 points and nine boards. With that strong performance, Quach is now averaging an impressive 15.3 points per game. Diego Serrano was another key player, putting up 13 points and five rebounds.
Garden Grove is on a roll lately: they've won three of their last four contests, which provided a nice bump to their 9-8 record this season. Those victories came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 58.8 points per game. As for Lakeside, their loss dropped their record down to 4-13.
Rebounding is likely to be a big factor in this contest: Lakeside has been smashing the glass this season, having averaged 28.8 boards per game. However, it's not like Garden Grove struggles in that department as they've been averaging 27.8 boards. With both teams battling to corral missed shots, we'll see if one team can grab an edge.
Lakeside came up short against Garden Grove in their previous matchup back in December of 2023, falling 71-64. Can Lakeside avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
