–Courtesy Photo
By Aaron Valdez
The Maranatha girls’ basketball team is firing on all cylinders as it secured a tight 50-47 victory over Paloma Valley in the CIF Division 4AA second round on Saturday.
The Minutemen exhibited a solid team effort to take down a strong Paloma Valley side that won the Sunbelt League title and was riding a huge 13-game win streak. Record-wise, Maranatha might not have seemed as good as its second-round counterpart, but the Minutemen did just enough defensively to slow down the Wildcats, who were averaging 50 points a game as a team this season.
Maranatha received big contributions from Merci Turner, who led the team with 12 point while also bagging eight rebounds. On the defensive end, Erica de Guzman, Mikayla Murphy, Patil Yaaacoubian and Emily Jordan helped set the tone and get stops in critical situations.
Other notable performances included Mireille Minassian, who hit three shots from beyond the arc while also grabbing seven rebounds off the bench.
With the win, the Minutemen move to 19-7 on the season and will head to the quarterfinals to take on Sultana on Wednesday.
