Basketball Game Preview: Tucumcari Rattlers vs. Clayton Yellowjackets

The Tucumcari Rattlers will venture away from home to face off against the Clayton Yellowjackets at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday. Tucumcari is strutting in with some offensive muscle as they've averaged 53.8 points per game this season.

Tucumcari is headed into the matchup after thoroughly thrashing Raton: they outscored them in every quarter. Given that consistent dominance, it should come as no surprise that Tucumcari blew Raton out of the water with a 65-9 final score. The game was pretty much decided by the half, when the score had already reached 38-5.

Tucumcari's victory was a true team effort, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was July Lafferty, who dropped a double-double on 19 points and 12 rebounds. Lafferty is on a roll when it comes to boards, as she's now pulled down eight or more in the last five games she's played. Another player making a difference was Caylee Benavidez, who went 5 of 9 en route to 11 points along with eight assists and eight rebounds.

Tucumcari smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 18 offensive boards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least eight offensive rebounds in 46 consecutive contests dating back to last season.

Meanwhile, Clayton played a tough matchup on Saturday in which they were outscored in every quarter. They took a blow against Pecos, falling 63-35. The Yellowjackets haven't had much luck with the Panthers recently, as the team's come up short the last two times they've met.

Tucumcari has been performing well recently as they've won eight of their last ten games, which provided a nice bump to their 14-5 record this season. The wins came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 58.1 points per game. As for Clayton, their defeat dropped their record down to 6-13.

Tucumcari was able to grind out a solid win over Clayton in their previous meeting back in January of 2024, winning 44-33. The rematch might be a little tougher for Tucumcari since the team won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.