Basketball Game Preview: Nogales Apaches vs. Pueblo Warriors

Nogales is 1-9 against Pueblo since November of 2014 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Wednesday. The Nogales Apaches will head out on the road to face off against the Pueblo Warriors at 7:00 p.m. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.

Pueblo will be up against a hot Nogales squad: the team just extended their winning streak to five. Nogales took their matchup on Thursday with ease, bagging a 70-28 win over Buena. Given the Apaches' advantage in MaxPreps' Arizona basketball rankings (they are ranked 50th, while the Colts are ranked 155th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

Cecilia Burruel was her usual excellent self, going 7 of 12 from beyond the arc on her way to 25 points along with seven boards and seven steals. She has been hot, having posted two or more steals the last seven times she's played. The team also got some help courtesy of Arlette Munoz, who went 5 for 11 en route to 11 points in addition to seven rebounds and seven steals.

Nogales smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 14 offensive rebounds. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least eight offensive boards in 20 consecutive contests.

Meanwhile, there's no place like home for Pueblo, who bounced back after a loss on the road on Thursday. They simply couldn't be stopped on Monday as they easily beat Cienega 63-20. The game was all but wrapped up at the end of the third, by which point the Warriors had established a 27 point advantage.

Nogales is on a roll lately: they've won six of their last seven matches, which provided a massive bump to their 13-7 record this season. The wins came thanks to their defensive effort, having only surrendered 26.7 points per game. As for Pueblo, their victory was their ninth straight at home dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 18-3.

Nogales came up short against Pueblo in their previous matchup back in December of 2024, falling 57-46. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Pueblo's America Cazares, who went 13 of 28 on her way to 35 points and three steals. Now that Nogales knows the damage she can cause, will they be able to stop her this time? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.