The Santa Paula Cardinals waltzed into their contest on Tuesday with three straight wins but they left with four. They enjoyed a cozy 54-38 victory over Malibu. That's another feather in the cap for Santa Paula, who also won these teams' last head-to-head.
Santa Paula's success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but Alyse Ramirez led the charge by scoring nine points along with six steals and five rebounds. Ramirez hasn't dropped below two steals for three straight games. Another player making a difference was Aryanna Lopez, who scored 16 points along with six rebounds and two steals.
Santa Paula is on a roll lately: they've won five of their last six games, which provided a nice bump to their 14-8 record this season. As for Malibu, they bumped their record down to 6-7 with that defeat, which was their fifth straight at home.
Santa Paula will head out on the road to square off against Fillmore at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Malibu won't have much time to rest: their next matchup is against Hueneme at 6:00 p.m. on January 17th. Hueneme is still on the hunt for that elusive first 'W'.