Elizabeth is 0-10 against Falcon since December of 2015 but things could change on Tuesday. The Elizabeth Cardinals will venture away from home to take on the Falcon Falcons at 7:00 p.m.
Last Friday, Elizabeth ended up a good deal behind Weld Central and lost 56-42. The Cardinals have now taken an 'L' in back-to-back games.
Aliana Quintana-ritter
| 02/07/25 vs Weld Central | 14 |
| 02/04/25 vs Mitchell | 10 |
| 01/29/25 vs Sand Creek | 8 |
| 12/12/24 vs Denver West | 6 |
| 12/17/24 @ Woodland Park | 5 |
Despite the loss, Elizabeth saw an underclassman step up: sophomore Aliana Quintana-ritter posted 14 points in addition to five boards and five steals. The dominant performance gave Quintana-ritter a new career-high in points. Lacy Antinora also deserves some recognition as she posted her first block of the season.
Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Falcon). They breezed by Coronado to the tune of 75-14 on Saturday. Given the Falcons' advantage in MaxPreps' Colorado basketball rankings (they are ranked 103rd, while the Cougars are ranked 304th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Falcon's win came from a few key players Elizabeth will need to keep an eye on. One of the most notable was Cierra Barbary, who went 9 for 14 to rack up 18 points and five steals. She has been hot, having posted two or more steals the last seven times she's played. Another player making a difference was Alexis Hunter, who dropped a double-double on 16 points and 11 rebounds.
Falcon smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 22 offensive boards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least eight offensive rebounds in 24 consecutive matches dating back to last season.
Falcon has been performing well recently as they've won five of their last six games, which provided a nice bump to their 13-6 record this season. The wins came thanks in part to their defensive effort, having only surrendered 23.3 points over those games. As for Elizabeth, their defeat dropped their record down to 7-10.
Rebounding is likely to be a big factor in this contest: Elizabeth has been crashing the boards this season, having averaged 34.1 boards per game. However, it's not like Falcon struggles in that department as they've been averaging 34.8 rebounds. With both teams battling to corral missed shots, we'll see if one team can grab an edge.
Elizabeth was taken down by Falcon 73-23 in their previous matchup back in January. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Falcon's Cobelyn Wiesner, who went 6 of 13 on her way to 18 points and four steals. Now that Elizabeth knows the damage she can cause, will they be able to stop her this time? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
