Santana hasn't had much luck against Canyon Crest Academy recently, but that could start to change on Monday. The two teams will round out the year against one another at at 1:30 p.m. Santana will be strutting in after a win while Canyon Crest Academy will be coming in after a loss.
Santana is headed in fresh off scoring the most points they have all season. Couldn't have asked for a better way to wrap up 2024 than the 53-10 stomp they got against San Ysidro. The Sultans have made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won six matches by 24 points or more this season.
Santana relied on the efforts of Harper Diaz, who posted 14 points and eight steals, and Sam Mora, who had 13 points along with seven steals and six boards. That's the most points Diaz has posted since back in January. The team also got some help courtesy of Chawan Shiro, who put up ten points and eight rebounds.
Meanwhile, Canyon Crest Academy didn't have quite enough to beat Kearny two weeks ago and fell 48-45.
Santana will have to keep a close watch on Audrey Zou and Elena Colon, a pair of players who had a big impact on Canyon Crest Academy's prior game. Zou went 7 of 11 on her way to 15 points, while Colon posted eight points and 15 rebounds. Colon has been hot, having posted eight or more boards the last seven times she's played. The team also got some help courtesy of Kelly Gorton, who had four points and seven boards.
Even though they lost, Canyon Crest Academy smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 13 offensive rebounds. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least 12 offensive boards in six consecutive contests.
Santana is on a roll lately: they've won nine of their last ten games, which provided a nice bump to their 12-2 record this season. The wins came thanks to their defensive effort, having only surrendered 20.1 points per game. As for Canyon Crest Academy, they have been struggling recently as they've lost four of their last five matches, which put a noticeable dent in their 2-7 record this season.
Santana was dealt a bruising 57-18 defeat at the hands of Canyon Crest Academy in their previous matchup back in November of 2018. That contest was all but decided by halftime, at which point Santana was down 29-6.
