Basketball Game Preview: O'Connor Eagles vs. Valley Vista Monsoon

O'Connor is 0-5 against Valley Vista since February of 2015 but things could change on Friday. The O'Connor Eagles will be playing in front of their home fans against the Valley Vista Monsoon at 7:00 p.m. Both are sauntering into the matchup backed by comfortable wins in their prior games.

It was a Battle of the Birds when O'Connor took on Apollo on Tuesday. O'Connor breezed by Apollo to the tune of 72-19. Given the Eagles' advantage in MaxPreps' Arizona basketball rankings (they are ranked 38th, while the Hawks are ranked 156th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

Audrey Bhesania continued her habit of posting crazy stat lines, going 7 of 8 from beyond the arc on her way to 25 points and five rebounds. That's the most points she has posted since back in December of 2023. The team also got some help courtesy of Ava Schooler, who posted 12 points in addition to five rebounds and three steals.

O'Connor smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 18 offensive boards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least nine offensive boards in three consecutive games.

Meanwhile, Valley Vista had already won two in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 9.5 points) and they went ahead and made it three on Tuesday. Everything went their way against the Black Hawks as they made off with a 61-35 victory. The Monsoon have made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won four matchups by 26 points or more this season.

Valley Vista has been performing incredibly well recently as they've won six of their last seven contests, which provided a nice bump to their 9-4 record this season. The wins came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 61.0 points per game. As for O'Connor, their win was their fifth straight at home dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 6-6.

O'Connor was taken down by Valley Vista 72-21 when the teams last played back in December of 2021. Will O'Connor have more luck at home instead of on the road? Come back here after the game to get an analysis of the match and other basketball content.