It was a good run, but the Palm Desert Aztecs unfortunately witnessed the end of their four-game winning streak on Thursday. They had to suffer through a rough 68-29 loss at the hands of Shadow Hills. While losing is never fun, Palm Desert can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' California basketball rankings (they are ranked 581st, while Shadow Hills is ranked 73rd).
Despite the loss, Palm Desert saw an underclassman step up: Katelyn Gallagher scored 13 points along with eight steals and six rebounds. Gallagher scored a full 44.8% of Palm Desert's points, the 13th time in a row she's earned more than a third of the team's points. Ava Tethal was another key contributor, scoring nine points along with eight rebounds.
Palm Desert struggled to work together and finished the game with only four assists. They were crushed by their opponents in that department as Shadow Hills racked up 14 assists.
Leading Shadow Hills to victory were Skylah Archer and Victoria Hyatt. Archer dropped a double-double on 14 points and ten rebounds, while Hyatt dropped a double-double on 19 points and ten rebounds. The contest was Hyatt's 18th in a row with at least ten points. Another player making a difference was Genesis Huerta, who scored 12 points.
Palm Desert's loss dropped their record down to 10-6. As for Shadow Hills, the victory was the third in a row for them, bringing their record for this year to 16-3.
Palm Desert will be playing in front of their home fans against Palm Springs at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday. Palm Springs is coming into the contest on a three-game losing streak. As for Shadow Hills, they will face off against Los Osos at TBD on Saturday. Hopefully Los Osos focused on turnovers this week since the team gave up 13 on Tuesday.