The Shadow Hills Knights entered their tilt with the Palm Desert Aztecs with two consecutive wins but they'll enter their next game with three. Shadow Hills claimed a resounding 68-29 victory over Palm Desert on the road. Given Shadow Hills' advantage in MaxPreps' California basketball rankings (they are ranked 73rd, while Palm Desert is ranked 581st), the result on Thursday wasn't entirely unexpected.
Leading Shadow Hills to victory were Skylah Archer and Victoria Hyatt. Archer dropped a double-double on 14 points and ten rebounds, while Hyatt dropped a double-double on 19 points and ten rebounds. The game was Hyatt's 18th in a row with at least ten points. Genesis Huerta was another key contributor, scoring 12 points.
Despite the loss, Palm Desert saw an underclassman step up: Katelyn Gallagher scored 13 points along with eight steals and six rebounds. Gallagher scored a full 44.8% of Palm Desert's points, the 13th time in a row she's earned more than a third of the team's points. Another player making a difference was Ava Tethal, who scored nine points along with eight rebounds.
Palm Desert struggled to work together and finished the game with only four assists. They were crushed by their opponents in that department as Shadow Hills racked up 14 assists.
Shadow Hills' win bumped their record up to 16-3. As for Palm Desert, their defeat dropped their record down to 10-6.
Shadow Hills will take on Los Osos at TBD on Saturday. Los Osos will be looking to extend their current five-game winning streak. As for Palm Desert, they will look to defend their home court on Tuesday against Palm Springs at 6:30 p.m. Palm Springs is coming into the matchup on a three-game losing streak.
