It was a good run, but the Mater Dei Catholic Crusaders unfortunately witnessed the end of their three-game winning streak on Thursday. They took a 54-44 hit to the loss column at the hands of Victory Christian Academy. Mater Dei Catholic was given a dose of their own medicine in this game as Victory Christian Academy apparently hadn't forgotten their defeat the last time these teams played back in November of 2022.
Several Crusaders players turned in solid performances, despite ultimately coming up short. Perhaps the best among those players was Valentina Aranalde, who scored 14 points along with three steals. Another player making a difference was Promise Martin, who scored nine points along with eight rebounds and four steals.
Mater Dei Catholic's loss 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 matchups, which provided a nice bump to their 12-5 record this season.
Mater Dei Catholic on the road again on Saturday and play against 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 match is against Otay Ranch at 6:00 p.m. on January 19th. Otay Ranch will have to bring their A-game into this one, as they are staring down a pretty big deficit in the MaxPreps California Rankings (they are ranked 606th, while Victory Christian Academy is ranked 201st).
