Basketball Game Preview: Pender Pendragons vs. Stanton Mustangs

The Pender Pendragons and the Stanton Mustangs will compete for holiday cheer at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday. Pender is currently enjoying a perfect season and no doubt wants to keep things rolling.

Pender is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of Nebraska's top teams: North Bend Central, who was ranked 13th at the time (Pender was ranked 25th). Pender put the hurt on North Bend Central with a sharp 58-35 victory on Thursday. The 58-point effort marked the Pendragons' lowest-scoring match of the season, but in the end it didn't matter.

Pender can attribute much of their success to Hadley Walsh, who went 7 for 13 on her way to 21 points and six rebounds, and Maya Dolliver, who went 7 of 11 on her way to 17 points and seven rebounds. Dolliver is also on a roll when it comes to steals, as she's now grabbed two or more in the last five games she's played. Madalyn Dolliver was another key player, putting up eight points.

Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Stanton). They took their game on Friday with ease, bagging a 58-30 win over Wakefield. The victory made it back-to-back wins for the Mustangs.

Pender's victory was their seventh straight at home dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 6-0. They've dominated over that stretch too, winning by an average of 43.4 points. As for Stanton, they now have a winning record of 3-2.

Everything came up roses for Pender against Stanton in their previous matchup back in January, as the team secured a 59-21 win. In that contest, Pender amassed a halftime lead of 34-9, an impressive feat they'll look to repeat on Saturday.