Sun Valley and Porter Ridge are an even 5-5 against one another since November of 2016, but not for long. The Sun Valley Spartans will head out on the road to take on the Porter Ridge Pirates at 6:00 p.m. on Friday. Hopefully Sun Valley focused on turnovers this week since the team gave up 12 on Friday.
Last Friday, Sun Valley was within striking distance but couldn't close the gap as they fell 56-52 to Marvin Ridge. While losing is never fun, Sun Valley can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' North Carolina basketball rankings (they are ranked 179th, while Marvin Ridge is ranked 22nd).
The loss doesn't tell the whole story though, as several players had good games. One of the most active was Chloe Grant, who scored nine points along with six rebounds and two blocks. The team also got some help courtesy of Tyra Robinson, who scored 16 points.
Meanwhile, Porter Ridge came tearing into Tuesday's matchup with six straight wins (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 14 points) and they left with even more momentum. They walked away with a 65-55 win over Cuthbertson. Having run the score up that high, both teams might be doing some extra defensive drills very soon.
It was another big night for Ashanti Taylor, who dropped a double-double on 32 points and 11 rebounds. She hasn't dropped below two steals for nine straight games. Another player making a difference was Anna Scaldara, who scored 11 points along with eight rebounds.
Sun Valley's loss dropped their record down to 12-11. As for Porter Ridge, they pushed their record up to 17-5 with that victory, which was their fourth straight on the road.
Sun Valley came up short against Porter Ridge when the teams last played back in January, falling 56-43. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Taylor, who scored 27 points along with seven rebounds and two steals. Now that Sun Valley knows the damage she can cause, will they be able to stop her this time? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
