Preview: Poway Titans vs. Del Norte Nighthawks
After two games on the road, Poway is heading back home. They will take on the Del Norte Nighthawks at 5:30 p.m. on Friday. The matchup should be an exciting one, as these teams are ranked near one another in California (Poway is ranked 93rd, while Del Norte is ranked 87th).
Last Wednesday, Poway didn't have too much trouble with San Marcos on the road as they won 58-43.
It was another big night for Katelyn Johnson, who scored 30 points. The team also got some help courtesy of Mackenzie Parsons, who scored 14 points.
Meanwhile, Del Norte unfortunately witnessed the end of their five-game winning streak on Wednesday. They took a serious blow against Mission Hills, falling 76-28. The result shouldn't come as a shock considering that's the fewest points Del Norte has scored all season.
Despite the loss, Del Norte had strong showings from Bailey Barnhard, who dropped a double-double on 12 points and ten rebounds, and Emerson Cole, who scored six points along with five rebounds. That was a full 42.9% of Del Norte's points, marking the third time in a row she's earned more than a third of the team's points.
Del Norte struggled to get the ball back on offense and finished the game with only three offensive rebounds. That's the fewest offensive rebounds they've managed all season.
Poway is on a roll lately: they've won six of their last eight contests, which provided a nice bump to their 15-6 record this season. As for Del Norte, their loss dropped their record down to 17-5.
Some high-performance offense is likely on the agenda as both teams are some of the highest scoring teams in the league. Poway hasn't had any problem running up the score this season, having averaged 55.1 points per game. However, it's not like Del Norte struggles in that department as they've been averaging 56.4 points per game. With both teams so easily able to put up points, the only question left is who can run the score up higher.
Poway came up short against Del Norte in their previous matchup on January 10th, falling 44-38. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Barnhard, who dropped a double-double on 16 points and 14 rebounds. Now that Poway knows the damage she can cause, will they be able to stop her this time? There's only one way to find out.
