The Elk Grove Thundering Herd fought the good fight in their overtime game against the Woodcreek Timberwolves on Friday but wound up with a less-than-desirable result. They fell to the Timberwolves 62-57. Having run the score up that high, both teams might be doing some extra defensive drills very soon.
Elk Grove's loss shouldn't obscure the performances of Noah Hargrave, who scored 16 points along with 3 steals, and Vinny Gonzales who scored 13 points along with 5 rebounds. The match was Hargrave's third in a row with at least ten points. MJ Bhatia was another key contributor, scoring 4 points.
Even though they lost, Elk Grove were working as a unit and finished the game with 15 assists. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Woodcreek only racked up seven.
Woodcreek's success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but Max VanLaningham led the charge by dropping a double-double on 18 points and 10 rebounds. VanLaningham is absolutely dominating the block category: he's posted at least two every time he's taken the court this season. The team also got some help courtesy of Michael Kirby, Jr., who scored 15 points along with 5 rebounds.
Elk Grove now has a losing record at 1-2. As for Woodcreek, the win makes it two in a row for them and bumps their season record up to 3-1.
Elk Grove will square off against Liberty Ranch at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday. Liberty Ranch will have to bring their A-game into this one, as they are staring down a pretty big deficit in the MaxPreps California Rankings (they are ranked 989th, while Elk Grove is ranked 469th). Woodcreek's road trip will continue as they head out to face St. Mary's at 4:00 p.m. on December 2nd. Hopefully St. Mary's focused on turnovers this week since the team gave up 18 on Friday.
