La Jolla Country Day is 8-0 against the Lancers since January of 2018, and they'll have a chance to extend that success on Friday. The La Jolla Country Day Torreys will head out on the road to face off against the Francis Parker Lancers at 6:00 p.m. Both teams are coming into the contest red-hot, with La Jolla Country Day sitting on five straight wins and the Lancers on six.
La Jolla Country Day scored the most points they've had all season to find success on Tuesday. They claimed a resounding 101-17 win over Pacific Ridge on the road. La Jolla Country Day has made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won eight games by 24 points or more this season.
La Jolla Country Day can attribute much of their success to Mei-ling Perry, who scored 17 points along with six rebounds and six steals, and Naomi Panganiban, who dropped a double-double on 22 points and ten assists. Panganiban hasn't dropped below 15 points for ten straight games. Safiyah Sugapong was another key contributor, scoring ten points along with seven steals.
Meanwhile, winning is just a little bit easier when your three-point shooting is a whole 23% better than the opposition, a fact Francis Parker proved on Tuesday. They really took it to St. Joseph Academy for the full four quarters, racking up a 58-30 victory at home. Given Francis Parker's advantage in MaxPreps' California basketball rankings (they are ranked 83rd, while the Crusaders are ranked 519th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Francis Parker found their leader in underclassman Brieana Brown, who scored 19 points along with seven rebounds. Brown hasn't dropped below 17 points for four straight games. The team also got some help courtesy of Kaitlyn Raagas, who scored 11 points.
La Jolla Country Day's victory was their ninth straight on the road dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 19-6. They've been dominating during the matches in that stretch too, as they've won by an average of 37.8 points. As for Francis Parker, they are on a roll lately: they've won eight of their last nine matches, which provided a massive bump to their 15-7 record this season.
This contest is one where the number of possessions is likely to be a big factor: La Jolla Country Day have been smashing the glass this season, having averaged 26.2 rebounds per game. However, it's not like Francis Parker struggles in that department as they've been averaging 28.8 rebounds per game. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
Everything came up roses for La Jolla Country Day against the Lancers in their previous meeting back in February of 2023 as the team secured a 71-33 win. With La Jolla Country Day ahead 36-16 at the half, the match was all but over already.
