Winning is just a little bit easier when you outrebound your opponent 18 to 11 on the offensive boards, a fact the High Tech SD Storm proved on Friday. They slipped by Copper Canyon 39-38. The win was all the more spectacular given High Tech SD's disadvantage in MaxPreps's basketball rankings in their respective home states (they are ranked 491st in California, while Copper Canyon is ranked 204th in Arizona).
Emma LaSalle was her usual excellent self, scoring 18 points along with nine steals. LaSalle is absolutely dominating the steal category: she's posted at least two every time she's taken the court this season. Another player making a difference was Vivianna Cravens, who scored eight points along with nine rebounds.
Copper Canyon's loss came despite a true team effort from the offense, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was Bri'ann Felix, who scored 21 points along with nine rebounds and four steals. Felix scored a full 55.3% of Copper Canyon's points, the 12th time in a row she's earned more than a third of the team's points. Zalaya Dupre was another key contributor, dropping a double-double on 11 points and 19 rebounds.
High Tech SD is on a roll lately: they've won five of their last six matches, which provided a nice bump to their 12-3 record this season. As for Copper Canyon, they are on a four-game losing streak that has dropped them down to 4-8.
High Tech SD and Crawford will face off at 6:00 p.m. on January 5, 2024 without much rest after finishing up games yesterday. Crawford is hoping to put an end to a three-game streak of away losses. Copper Canyon will get a bit of extra time to process the loss as their next game is a ways off. They'll take on Youngker at 7:00 p.m. on January 9, 2024. Hopefully Youngker focused on turnovers this week since the team gave up 22 last Tuesday.
