After a string of three wins, the Mater Dei Catholic Crusaders's good fortune finally ran out on Thursday. They fell 54-44 to Victory Christian Academy. While losing is never fun, Mater Dei Catholic can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' California basketball rankings (they are ranked 462nd, while Victory Christian Academy is ranked 183rd).
Mater Dei Catholic lost despite a true team effort on the offense, the best among them being Valentina Aranalde, who scored 14 points along with three steals. Promise Martin was another key contributor, scoring nine points along with eight rebounds and four steals.
Victory Christian Academy got their victory on the backs of several key players, but it was Mai'ana Norita out in front who scored 22 points along with six rebounds and four steals. Norita has been hot recently, having posted two or more steals the last eight times she's played. The team also got some help courtesy of Sophia Abella, who scored 19 points along with five rebounds and two steals.
Mater Dei Catholic's defeat dropped their record down to 7-9. As for Victory Christian Academy, they are on a roll lately: they've won four of their last five matches, which provided a nice bump to their 12-5 record this season.
Mater Dei Catholic's road trip will continue as they head out to face Imperial at 12:00 p.m. on January 20th. Hopefully Imperial focused on turnovers this week since the team gave up 12 on Thursday. Victory Christian Academy won't have much time to rest: their next matchup is against Otay Ranch at 6:00 p.m. on January 19th. Hopefully Otay Ranch focused on turnovers this week since the team gave up nine on Wednesday.
