The Paloma Valley Wildcats will head out on the road to face off against the Chaparral Pumas at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday. Hopefully Paloma Valley focused on turnovers this week since the team gave up 20 on Thursday.
After a string of seven wins, Paloma Valley's good fortune finally ran out. They took a 59-47 hit to the loss column at the hands of Xavier Prep. Paloma Valley found out winning isn't easy when you don't work as a unit and post 11 fewer assists than your opponent.
Paloma Valley's defeat shouldn't obscure the performances of Ashlee Medrano, who scored 20 points, and Gina Misiaita who scored 14 points along with 5 rebounds. Medrano scored a full 42.6% of Paloma Valley's points, the ninth time in a row she's earned more than a third of the team's points.
Meanwhile, Chaparral unfortunately witnessed the end of their three-game winning streak on Friday. They fell 53-44 to Shadow Hills. While losing is never fun, Chaparral can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' California basketball rankings (they are ranked 261st, while Shadow Hills is ranked 48th).
Despite their loss, Chaparral saw several players rise to the challenge and make noteworthy plays. Zetta Faasua, who scored 10 points along with 9 rebounds, was perhaps the best of all. The contest was Faasua's third in a row with at least ten points. Maya Ford was another key contributor, scoring 6 points along with 11 rebounds and 3 steals.
Their wins bumped Paloma Valley to 7-2 and Xavier Prep to 9-0.
Keep an eye on the arc in Tuesday's game: Paloma Valley have been dynamite from deep this season, having only made 34.4% of their threes per game. It's a different story for Chaparral, though, as they've only made 33.1% of theirs this season. Given Paloma Valley's sizeable advantage in that area, Chaparral will need to find a way to close that gap. Check back here after the action for a full breakdown and analysis of the contest.
Paloma Valley strolled past Chaparral in their previous meeting back in December of 2021 by a score of 64-47. Does Paloma Valley have another victory up their sleeve, or will Chaparral turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.
