Justin-Siena has been on the road for seven straight, but on Wednesday they'll finally head home. They will be home for the holidays to greet the Monte Vista Mustangs at 3:30 p.m. Keep an eye on the score for this one: the pair posted some lofty point totals in their previous games.
Justin-Siena has made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won four games by 20 points or more this season. They blew past Saint Mary's 60-40. Given Justin-Siena's advantage in MaxPreps' California basketball rankings (they are ranked 60th, while Saint Mary's is ranked 440th), the result on Tuesday wasn't entirely unexpected.
Justin-Siena's success was spearheaded by the efforts of Naveena Jackson, who dropped a double-double on 13 points and 12 rebounds, and Jordan Washington, who dropped a double-double on 18 points and 13 rebounds. That makes it three consecutive games in which Washington has scored at least 25% of Justin-Siena's points. The team also got some help courtesy of Dylan Zapolski, who scored ten points along with eight rebounds.
Meanwhile, Monte Vista's recent rough patch got a bit rougher on Saturday after their third straight loss. They took a 66-61 hit to the loss column at the hands of Moreau Catholic. Despite running the score up even higher than they did on Thursday (57), Monte Vista still had to take the loss.
Despite the loss, Monte Vista saw an underclassman step up: Alyssa Rudd dropped a double-double on 32 points and 17 rebounds. The game was Rudd's sixth in a row with at least ten points. Rachel Brans was another key contributor, scoring 13 points along with seven assists and seven rebounds.
Even though they lost, Monte Vista were working as a unit and finished the game with 12 assists. That's the most assists they've managed all season.
Justin-Siena's win bumped their record up to 6-1. As for Monte Vista, their defeat dropped their record down to 3-3.
Keep an eye on the arc in Wednesday's matchup: Justin-Siena have made nailing deep shots look easy this year this season, having only averaged 4 threes per game. It's a different story for Monte Vista, though, as they've been averaging only 4.2 threes per game. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
Justin-Siena was dealt a bruising 58-31 loss at the hands of Monte Vista in their previous meeting back in December of 2022. Can Justin-Siena avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
