Basketball Game Preview: Desert Sunrise Golden Hawks vs. Coronado Dons

The Desert Sunrise Golden Hawks will head out on the road to challenge the Coronado Dons at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday. Desert Sunrise will be strutting in after a victory while Coronado will be coming in after a loss.

Last Thursday, Desert Sunrise was fully in charge, breezing past Tempe 54-18. That looming 54-18 mark stands out as the most commanding margin for the Golden Hawks yet this season.

Desert Sunrise's success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but Kylah Victum led the charge by almost dropping a double-double with 11 points and nine steals. That's the most points Victum has posted since back in December of 2023. The team also got some help courtesy of Shayla Hill, who scored 13 points and five steals.

Meanwhile, it's never fun to lose, and it's even less fun to lose 67-25, which was the final score in Coronado's tilt against Dysart on Monday. The defeat continues a trend for the Dons in their matchups with the Demons: they've now lost eight in a row.

The win made it two in a row for Desert Sunrise and bumps their season record up to 10-14. Those victories came thanks in part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 65.0 points over those games. As for Coronado, their loss dropped their record down to 9-15.

Desert Sunrise came up short against Coronado in their previous meeting back in January, falling 47-41. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Coronado's Kailyn Holsey, who dropped a triple-double with 20 points, 14 rebounds, and ten steals. Now that Desert Sunrise knows the damage she can cause, will they be able to stop her this time? There's only one way to find out.