The Harbor Pirates will finish 2023 at home by hosting the Live Oak Acorns at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday. Both teams have allowed few points on average, (Harbor: 30, Live Oak: 28.1) so any points scored will be well earned.
Last Thursday, Harbor was within striking distance but couldn't close the gap as they fell 28-23 to Castilleja. While losing is never fun, Harbor can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' California basketball rankings (they are ranked 952nd, while Castilleja is ranked 454th).
Despite the loss, Harbor saw an underclassman step up: Malalai Martin Etemadi scored 15 points. Martin Etemadi scored a full 65.2% of Harbor's points, the third time in a row she's earned more than a third of the team's points.
Meanwhile, Live Oak had just enough and edged Santa Clara out 54-52 on Friday.
Maya Rafat and Kathliyah Clement were among the main playmakers for Live Oak as the former dropped a double-double on 19 points and ten rebounds and the latter dropped a double-double on 21 points and ten rebounds. Clement continues to roll, besting her previous point total in each of the last five games she's played. Another player making a difference was Amaya Valencia, who scored two points.
This is the second loss in a row for Harbor and nudges their season record down to 6-4. As for Live Oak, they pushed their record up to 8-2 with that victory, which was their 13th straight at home dating back to last season.
Harbor suffered a grim 42-20 defeat to Live Oak in their previous matchup back in December of 2017. Thankfully for Harbor, Grace Smith (who scored 15 points along with eight rebounds and eight steals) won't be suiting up this time. Will that be enough to change the final result? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
