The Payson Longhorns have been a dominant force so far, but they're in the middle of a mini-slump at the moment. They were just a bucket shy of victory on Saturday and fell 52-51 to Eastmark.
When it comes to explaining why Payson lost, one person who can't be blamed is Hannah Sarnowski. Despite the final result, she scored 16 points along with six assists. That's the first time this season that Sarnowski scored 15 or more points. Another player making a difference was Chloe Hancock, who scored eight points.
Payson's loss ended a four-game streak of wins at home and dropped them to 8-3. As for Eastmark, they are on a roll lately: they've won four of their last five contests, which provided a nice bump to their 12-4 record this season.
Both teams will have to hit the road in their upcoming games. Payson will get a bit of extra time to process the loss as their next game is a ways off. They'll take on Show Low at 6:00 p.m. on January 9, 2024. Eastmark will be staying on the road on Monday to face off against Cortez at 7:00 p.m. on December 18th. Cortez will have to bring their A-game into this one, as they are staring down a pretty big deficit in the MaxPreps Arizona Rankings (they are ranked 237th, while Eastmark is ranked 36th).
