Basketball Recap: Del Valle Takes Loss Despite Strong Efforts from Pearl Ruiz and Izabel Velazquez

Del Valle lost against Bel Air back in February and unfortunately they wound up with the same result on Friday. The Del Valle Conquistadores fell 46-38 to the Bel Air Highlanders. While losing is never fun, the Conquistadores can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Texas basketball rankings (they are ranked 1188th, while the Highlanders are ranked 388th).

Izabel Velazquez and Pearl Ruiz certainly did their best on Friday to avoid the loss. Velazquez posted 12 points along with six boards and three steals, while Ruiz earned 11 points in addition to seven boards and four steals. Those 12 points gave Velazquez a new career-high.

Bel Air's win was the result of several impressive offensive performances. One of the most notable came from Jayde Martinez, who went 6 of 11 on her way to 13 points and five assists. Martinez has been hot recently, having also posted two or more steals the last four times she's played. Another player making a difference was Mia Duran, who had seven points and six rebounds.

This is the second loss in a row for Del Valle and nudges their season record down to 5-13. As for Bel Air, the victory (which was their third in a row) raised their record to 10-7.

Del Valle will head out to face off against Horizon at 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday. As for Bel Air, they will host El Dorado at 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday. Bel Air is strutting in with some offensive muscle as they've averaged 50.2 points per game this season.