The Ralston Valley Mustangs pushed their score all the way to 58 on Wednesday, but even that wasn't enough to win. They opened the new year with a less-than-successful 64-58 defeat to they. While losing is never fun, they can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Colorado basketball rankings (they are ranked 50th, while Cherry Creek is ranked sixth).
Ralston Valley's defeat shouldn't obscure the performances of Santana Sabus, who scored 25 points along with six rebounds and three steals, and Sophia Sabus who scored 15 points along with seven rebounds. The contest was Sabus' tenth in a row with at least ten points.
Even though they lost, Ralston Valley were working as a unit and finished the game with 13 assists. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Cherry Creek only posted three assists.
Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead Cherry Creek to victory, but perhaps none more so than Tianna Chambers, who scored 20 points along with six rebounds. That makes it three consecutive games in which Chambers has scored at least 25% of Cherry Creek's points. Another player making a difference was Braelynn Barnett, who scored 18 points along with seven rebounds.
This is the second loss in a row for Ralston Valley and nudges their season record down to 6-4. As for Cherry Creek, their victory was their fifth straight at home, which pushed their record up to 7-2.
Ralston Valley will take on Mountain Vista at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday. Hopefully Mountain Vista focused on turnovers this week since the team gave up 24 back in December of 2023. As for Cherry Creek, they will head out on the road to face off against Rangeview at 7:00 p.m. on Monday.
