Banning has enjoyed a two-game homestand but will soon have to dust off their road jerseys. They will square off against the Yucca Valley Trojans at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday. Banning 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 1050th, while Yucca Valley is ranked 243rd).
Last Friday, Banning was just a bucket shy of victory and fell 43-42 to Twentynine Palms.
The losing side was boosted by Maryanne Palacios, who scored 17 points. That was a full 40.5% of Banning's points, marking the fourth time in a row she's earned more than a third of the team's points. Another player making a difference was Symora Prince, who scored ten points.
Meanwhile, Yucca Valley put the finishing touches on their 17th blowout victory of the season on Saturday. They took their contest on the road with ease, bagging a 66-18 victory over West. The win was familiar territory for Yucca Valley who now have five in a row.
Banning has traveled a rocky road recently, as they've lost ten of their last 13 games, which put a noticeable dent in their 6-12 record this season. As for Yucca Valley, they have been performing incredibly well recently as they've won ten of their last 11 games, which provided a nice bump to their 20-4 record this season.
Banning was taken down by Yucca Valley 65-38 in their previous meeting back in December of 2023. Can Banning avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
