Even though the Summit Shasta Black Bears scored an imposing 60 points on Monday, the Monte Vista Mustangs still came out on top. Monte Vista secured a 64-60 W over Summit Shasta. Given Monte Vista's advantage in MaxPreps' California basketball rankings (they are ranked 146th, while Summit Shasta is ranked 353rd), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Monte Vista was led to victory by Rachel Brans and Alyssa Rudd. Brans scored 18 points along with eight rebounds and six blocks, while Rudd dropped a double-double on 32 points and 19 rebounds. Rudd is absolutely dominating the rebound category: she's posted at least eight every time she's taken the court this season. Naliyah Sefidi was another key contributor, scoring eight points along with two steals.
Despite the loss, Summit Shasta had strong showings from Alexis Cornejo, who scored 21 points along with five assists and five steals, and Niesha Ramirez, who scored 20 points along with six rebounds and three steals. Cornejo has been hot recently, having posted 15 or more points the last seven times she's played. Another player making a difference was Tiffany Lim, who scored six points along with two blocks.
The win (which was Monte Vista's third in a row) raised their record to 11-7. Those good results were due in large part to their offensive dominance across that stretch, as they averaged 57.3 points per game. As for Summit Shasta, their loss dropped their record down to 8-3.
Both squads are looking forward to the support of their home crowds in their upcoming games. Monte Vista will take on California at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday. Hopefully California focused on turnovers this week since the team gave up 22 last Friday. As for Summit Shasta, they will look to defend their home court on Tuesday against The Nueva School at 7:30 p.m. That game will pit two of the most dominant players against one another: Amrutha Rao and Cornejo.
