There's no place like home for the Shafter Generals, who bounced back after a tough loss on the road last Saturday. They secured a 54-48 W over Golden Valley on Wednesday. That's another feather in the cap for Shafter, who also won these teams' last head-to-head.
Shafter's success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but Aidan Cardenas led the charge by scoring 14 points along with six rebounds and four steals. That makes it three consecutive games in which Cardenas has scored at least 25% of Shafter's points. The team also got some help courtesy of Shaun Maldonado, who scored 18 points.
Golden Valley's loss came despite a true team effort from the offense, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was Kevin Soto, who scored 18 points along with five assists. As a matter of fact, that's the most points Soto has scored all season. Nate Abbott was another key contributor, scoring eight points along with 11 rebounds.
Shafter is on a roll lately: they've won three of their last four matches, which provided a nice bump to their 7-5 record this season. As for Golden Valley, this is the second loss in a row for them and nudges their season record down to 2-7.
Both squads will have to hit the road in their upcoming games. Shafter will take on Mission Oak at 4:00 p.m. on December 23rd. Golden Valley will get a bit of extra time to process the loss as their next game is a ways off. They'll take on Garces Memorial at 4:30 p.m. on December 28th.
