After losing to the Mater Dei Catholic Crusaders the last time they met, the Imperial Tigers decided to demonstrate that turnabout is fair play. Imperial came out on top against Mater Dei Catholic by a score of 51-43 on Saturday.
Leading Imperial to victory were Davan Heraz and Nayeli Cardona. Heraz scored 14 points along with eight rebounds and three blocks, while Cardona dropped a double-double on 21 points and 13 rebounds. That makes it eight consecutive games in which Cardona has scored at least a third of Imperial's points. The team also got some help courtesy of Clare Davila, who scored three points along with seven rebounds and five assists.
Imperial is on a roll lately: they've won four of their last five matchups, which provided a nice bump to their 11-11 record this season. As for Mater Dei Catholic, this is the second loss in a row for them and nudges their season record down to 7-10.
Both teams are looking forward to the support of their home crowds in their upcoming games. Imperial will take on Palo Verde Valley at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday. Palo Verde Valley is looking to tack on another W to their four-game streak on the road. As for Mater Dei Catholic, they will look to defend their home court on Monday against Patrick Henry at 6:30 p.m. Patrick Henry 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 801st, while Mater Dei Catholic is ranked 400th).
