The Imani Christian Academy Saints will take on the Neumann-Goretti Saints in a holiday battle at 4:00 p.m. on Friday at. Expect the scorekeeper to be kept busy: if their previous games are any indication, the pair will really light up the scoreboard.
Imani Christian Academy waltzed into their matchup Sunday with 18 straight wins dating back to last season but they left with 19. They enjoyed a cozy 76-60 victory over St. Edward.
Imani Christian Academy's win was the result of several impressive offensive performances. One of the most notable came from RJ Sledge, who scored 20 points along with seven steals and five assists. The team also got some help courtesy of Nate Brazil, who scored 20 points along with four steals.
Meanwhile, Neumann-Goretti had already won two in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 8.5 points), and they went ahead and made it three on Saturday. They simply couldn't be stopped as they easily beat Spring-Ford 77-44 at home. Given Neumann-Goretti's advantage in MaxPreps' Pennsylvania basketball rankings (they are ranked 25th, while Spring-Ford is ranked 159th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Neumann-Goretti can attribute much of their success to Torrey Brooks Jr., who scored ten points along with six assists and four steals, and Larenzo Jerkins, who scored 15 points along with eight rebounds and four steals. The contest was Jerkins' third in a row with at least ten points. Khaafiq Myers was another key contributor, scoring 14 points along with four steals.
Imani Christian Academy's victory bumped their record up to 1-0. As for Neumann-Goretti, their victory was their fifth straight at home dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 3-0.
