After flying high against the Stockton Christian Eagles on Friday, the Venture Academy Mustangs came back down to earth. Venture Academy took a hard 64-49 fall against Linden on Saturday. Venture Academy has struggled against Linden recently, as their game on Saturday was their third consecutive lost matchup.
Venture Academy's defeat came despite a true team effort from the offense, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was Kelyiana Neal, who scored 23 points. Neal scored a full 46.9% of Venture Academy's points, the third time in a row she's earned more than a third of the team's points. Another player making a difference was Kimora Crawford, who scored 15 points along with six rebounds.
Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead Linden to victory, but perhaps none more so than Kayla Franco, who scored 23 points. That's the first time this season that Franco scored 15 or more points. The team also got some help courtesy of Jackie Mercer, who scored 22 points.
Venture Academy has been struggling recently, as they've lost seven of their last eight matches, which put a noticeable dent in their 6-8 record this season. As for Linden, their win ended a 13-game drought on the road dating back to last season and puts them at 1-14.
Venture Academy will look to defend their home court on Tuesday against Elliot Christian at 5:30 p.m. Elliot Christian is looking to tack on another W to their five-game streak on the road. As for Linden, they will square off against Edison at 7:00 p.m. on Monday. Edison is coming into the game on a five-game losing streak.
