The Grace Christian Academy Crusaders's recent rough patch got a bit rougher on Monday after their eighth straight loss. They were the victim of a rough 80-60 loss at the hands of Unity Christian Academy. The defeat unfortunately continues a disappointing trend for Grace Christian Academy in their matchups with Unity Christian Academy: they've now lost three in a row.
Grace Christian Academy's loss came despite a true team effort from the offense, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was Sam Marquardt, who scored 18 points along with six rebounds. Noah Bisping was another key contributor, scoring 11 points.
Grace Christian Academy struggled to get the ball back on offense and finished the game with only an offensive rebound. They were crushed by their opponents in that department as Unity Christian Academy pulled down nine offensive rebounds.
Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead Unity Christian Academy to victory, but perhaps none more so than Kenyun Mazique, who dropped a double-double on 21 points and 11 rebounds. Mazique also posted eight assists for the first time this season. Another player making a difference was Donovan O'Neil, who scored 18 points along with six assists and two steals.
Grace Christian Academy's defeat was their seventh straight on the road, which bumped their record down to 2-13. Those losses can't be blamed on the team's offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 51.6 points per game. As for Unity Christian Academy, the victory was the fifth in a row for them, bringing their record for this year to 7-6.
Grace Christian Academy will head out on the road to square off against Illinois Lutheran at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Hopefully Illinois Lutheran focused on turnovers this week since the team gave up 22 on Wednesday. As for Unity Christian Academy, they will be playing at home against Islamic Foundation at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday. Islamic Foundation has now lost eight straight, and the team is hunting for their first win since November 28.
