Basketball Game Preview: Coachella Valley Mighty Arabs vs. Twentynine Palms Wildcats

Coachella Valley hasn't had much luck against Twentynine Palms recently, but that could start to change on Tuesday. The Coachella Valley Mighty Arabs will square off against the Twentynine Palms Wildcats at 5:30 p.m. Coachella Valley is strutting in with some offensive muscle as they've averaged 54.1 points per game this season.

Coachella Valley took a loss when they played away from home on Tuesday, but their home fans gave them all the motivation they needed on Thursday. They breezed by Indio to the tune of 60-28. Given the Mighty Arabs' advantage in MaxPreps' California basketball rankings (they are ranked 500th, while the Rajahs are ranked 1177th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

Mariah Figueroa continued her habit of posting crazy stat lines, dropping a double-double on 27 points and ten boards. Her evening made it three games in a row in which she has scored at least ten points. The team also got some help courtesy of Paulina Lucero, who went 6 of 13 on her way to 14 points.

Coachella Valley smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 15 offensive boards. That's a new trend for them: they were averaging 4.2 offensive rebounds per game earlier this season, but in their last 15 matchups they've averaged 12.1.

Meanwhile, Twentynine Palms entered their tilt with Yucca Valley on Thursday with five consecutive wins but they'll enter their next game with six. They took down the Trojans 48-33.

Twentynine Palms is also on a roll lately: they've won eight of their last nine games, which provided a nice bump to their 18-3 record this season. As for Coachella Valley, their win bumped their record up to 15-5.

Coachella Valley lost to Twentynine Palms on the road by a decisive 53-36 margin when the teams last played two weeks ago. Can Coachella Valley avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.