Basketball Game Preview: Sierra Chieftains vs. Hanford West Huskies

The Sierra Chieftains are taking a road trip to take on the Hanford West Huskies at 6:00 p.m. on Friday. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.

Sierra is headed into the contest after thoroughly thrashing Liberty: they outscored them in every quarter. Given that consistent dominance, it should come as no surprise that Sierra blew Liberty out of the water with a 59-12 final score. Given the Chieftains' advantage in MaxPreps' California basketball rankings (they are ranked 297th, while the Hawks are ranked 1040th), the result on Tuesday wasn't entirely unexpected.

Aleeawa Badoni

Steals

02/11/25 @ Liberty	3
02/07/25 vs Caruthers	2
02/04/25 @ Riverdale	5
01/31/25 vs Parlier	2
01/28/25 @ Fresno Christian	6
+ 5 more games

Sierra relied on the efforts of Aleeawa Badoni, who almost dropped a double-double with 18 points and nine assists, and Kinley Ferguson, who went 7-for-13 to rack up 19 points and four steals. Badoni has been hot for a while, having also posted two or more steals the last ten times she's played. Mia Bautista was another key player, putting up five points in addition to six boards and six steals.

Sierra smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with ten offensive boards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least ten offensive rebounds in 13 consecutive games.

Meanwhile, Hanford West humbled Washington Union with a 54-23 victory. That's two games straight that the Huskies have won by exactly 31 points.

Hanford West is on a roll lately: they've won seven of their last eight matches, which provided a nice bump to their 18-7 record this season. Those victories came thanks in part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 54.9 points over those games. As for Sierra, their victory was their fifth straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 20-7.