Basketball Game Preview: Artesia Bulldogs vs. Lovington Wildcats

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Previous Games

03/01/24 - Home	51-46 W
02/16/24 - Away	45-40 W
02/02/24 - Home	50-45 W
02/10/23 - Home	62-33 W
01/27/23 - Away	54-36 W
+ 5 more games

Artesia has gone 10-0 against Lovington recently and they'll look to pad the win column further on Friday. The Artesia Bulldogs will head out on the road to take on the Lovington Wildcats at 5:30 p.m. Artesia is coming into the match on a four-game losing streak.

Artesia is headed into the contest out to prove that what happened against Hobbs on Friday (when they were outscored in every quarter) was just a minor bump in the road. Artesia had to suffer through a 79-30 loss at the hands of Hobbs. While losing is never fun, the Bulldogs can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' New Mexico basketball rankings (they are ranked 50th, while the Eagles are ranked first).

Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Lovington). They blew past Chaparral, posting an 85-35 victory. The Wildcats have made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won eight games by 22 points or more this season.

Lovington's win came from a few key players Artesia will need to keep an eye on. One of the most notable was Ashelynn Borunda, who shot 4-for-7 from deep and dropped a double-double on 32 points and ten boards. The match was her ninth in a row with at least ten points. The team also got some help courtesy of Malaiya Castro, who went 10 for 16 on her way to 27 points along with seven assists and three steals.

Lovington was working as a unit and finished the game with 24 assists. That's the most assists they've posted since the start of last season.

Lovington pushed their record up to 12-8 with the win, which was their fourth straight on the road. The wins came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 63.5 points per game. As for Artesia, their defeat dropped their record down to 8-11.

Artesia didn't have too much breathing room in their contest against Lovington when the teams last played back in March of 2024, but they still walked away with a 51-46 victory. The rematch might be a little tougher for Artesia since the team won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.