The Jefferson Mustangs will be home for the holidays to greet the Burbank Bulldogs at 5:00 p.m. on Friday. The teams are rolling into the game with opposing streaks: Jefferson has struggled recently with six losses in a row, while Burbank will arrive with nine straight victories.
Jefferson's 25-8 record from last season is now well into the rear view mirror after another tough outing. They suffered a rough 45-25 loss at the hands of Lanier on Tuesday. That's two games in a row now that Jefferson has lost by exactly 20 points.
Burbank has made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won nine games by 21 points or more this season. They blew past Edison 53-29. Given Burbank's advantage in MaxPreps' Texas basketball rankings (they are ranked 325th, while Edison is ranked 931st), the result on Tuesday wasn't entirely unexpected.
Burbank got their victory on the backs of several key players, but it was Zara'nique Nealy out in front who scored 11 points along with seven rebounds and six steals. Nealy has been hot recently, having posted two or more steals the last eight times she's played. Another player making a difference was Savannah Botello, who scored ten points along with four steals.
Jefferson bumped their record down to 3-15 with that loss, which was their sixth straight on the road. Those losses could be blamed on the team's offensive performance across that stretch, as they only averaged 21.2 points per game. As for Burbank, they have been performing incredibly well recently as they've won 11 of their last 12 matchups, which provided a massive bump to their 15-6 record this season.
Jefferson came up short against Burbank in their previous matchup back in January, falling 63-58. Can Jefferson avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
