Valencia and Hart are an even 5-5 against one another since January of 2020, but not for long. The Valencia Vikings will head out on the road to square off against the Hart Hawks at 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday. Valencia will be coming into the game with an undefeated record on the line.
While Valencia didn't have the best season last year (they finished 12-17), it's starting to look like those struggles are a thing of the past. They snuck past Granada Hills Charter with a 48-42 win on Tuesday. The 48-point effort marked the Vikings' lowest-scoring matchup of the season, but in the end it didn't matter.
Valencia got their victory on the backs of several key players, but it was Cara McKell out in front who dropped a double-double on 17 points and ten rebounds. McKell's evening made it five games in a row in which she has scored at least ten points. Another player making a difference was Keira McLaughlin, who scored seven points along with eight rebounds and seven blocks.
Valencia smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 11 offensive rebounds. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least ten offensive rebounds in five consecutive contests.
Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Hart). They strolled past Chino Hills with points to spare on Saturday, taking the game 64-47. The win made it back-to-back victories for the Hawks.
Andrea Aina was her usual excellent self, dropping a double-double on 29 points and 11 rebounds. The team also got some help courtesy of Morgan Mack, who went 7 for 17 en route to 19 points plus five assists and two steals.
Hart's win bumped their record up to 3-1. As for Valencia, their victory bumped their record up to 5-0.
Rebounding is likely to be a big factor in this contest: Valencia has crashing the boards this season, having averaged 35.6 rebounds per game. However, it's not like Hart struggles in that department as they've been averaging 28.8. With both teams battling to corral missed shots, we'll see if one team can grab an edge.
Valencia might still be hurting after the 74-53 loss they got from Hart in their previous meeting back in January. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Mack, who almost dropped a double-double on 21 points and nine assists. Now that Valencia knows the damage she can cause, will they be able to stop her this time? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
