The Mira Mesa Marauders struggled with offensive rebounds on Saturday (the Santa Cruz Cardinals had 11 more) and sadly the final score reflected it. Mira Mesa was just a bucket shy of victory and fell 38-37 to Santa Cruz. While losing is never fun, Mira Mesa can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' California basketball rankings (they are ranked 588th, while Santa Cruz is ranked 265th).
Mira Mesa lost despite a true team effort on the offense, the best among them being Ivorii Seals, who scored 16 points along with three steals and three blocks. Seals scored a full 43.2% of Mira Mesa's points, the 12th time in a row she's earned more than a third of the team's points. The team also got some help courtesy of Alyssa Otero, who scored eight points along with nine rebounds and five steals.
Santa Cruz's victory was a true team effort, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was Linneah Keence, who scored seven points along with eight rebounds and three steals. That's the first time this season that Keence pulled down eight or more rebounds. Another player making a difference was Kina Espinosa, who dropped a double-double on ten points and 11 rebounds.
Mira Mesa's loss dropped their record down to 6-9. As for Santa Cruz, they are on a roll lately: they've won four of their last five matches, which provided a nice bump to their 9-5 record this season.
Both teams are looking forward to the support of their home crowds in their upcoming games. Mira Mesa and San Diego will face off at 6:00 p.m. on January 5th without much rest after finishing up games yesterday. San Diego and Mira Mesa are at an even 5-5 over their past ten head-to-heads. As for Santa Cruz, they will be playing in front of their home fans against Harbor at 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday. Harbor's defense has only allowed 30 points per game this season, so Santa Cruz's offense will have their work cut out for Santa Cruz.
