The Douglas Bulldogs had already won seven in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 24.7 points), and they went ahead and made it eight on Thursday. They wrapped up 2023 with a 45-30 win over Peoria. Given Douglas' advantage in MaxPreps' Arizona basketball rankings (they are ranked 34th, while Peoria is ranked 96th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Francia Rubio was her usual excellent self, scoring 12 points along with three steals. Rubio is absolutely dominating the steal category: she's posted at least two every time she's taken the court this season. The team also got some help courtesy of Corazon Santana , who scored eight points along with five rebounds.
When it comes to explaining why Peoria lost, one person who can't be blamed is Michelle Kogbara. Despite the final result, she dropped a double-double on 16 points and 16 rebounds. Kogbara scored a full 53.3% of Peoria's points, the sixth time in a row she's earned more than a third of the team's points.
Douglas is on a roll lately: they've won nine of their last ten matches, which provided a nice bump to their 13-2 record this season. As for Peoria, they are on a four-game losing streak that has dropped them down to 7-5.
Douglas is on the road again on Thursday and play against Georgetown at 7:30 p.m. on December 28, 2023. Georgetown knows how to get points on the board -- the squad has finished with flashy point totals in its past five games -- so hopefully Douglas likes a good challenge. Peoria and Baboquivari will round out the year against one another at 6:00 p.m. on Thursday at. Hopefully Baboquivari focused on turnovers this week since the team gave up 24 on Thursday.
