Preview: Tonopah Valley Phoenix vs. Yuma Catholic Shamrocks
Tonopah Valley is 0-8 against Yuma Catholic since January of 2015 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Saturday. The Tonopah Valley Phoenix's homestand continues as they prepare to take on the Yuma Catholic Shamrocks at 2:00 p.m. on January 20th. Tonopah Valley comes in on a streak of failing to score more than 15 points in their last 12 games, a trend the team is of course eager to reverse.
Tonopah Valley suffered their biggest loss since December 1, 2023 on Thursday. They were outmatched by Scottsdale Preparatory Academy at home and fell 61-14. While losing is never fun, Tonopah Valley can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Arizona basketball rankings (they are ranked 296th, while Scottsdale Preparatory Academy is ranked 140th).
In what's become a running theme this season, Yuma Catholic gave their fans yet another huge victory on Wednesday. They simply couldn't be stopped as they easily beat River Valley 59-12 on the road. With Yuma Catholic ahead 35-6 at the half, the game was all but over already.
Amanda Wiley continued her habit of posting crazy stat lines, dropping a double-double on 19 points and 11 rebounds. Wiley is absolutely dominating the rebound category: she's posted at least eight every time she's taken the court this season. Another player making a difference was Briyanna Pisano, who scored ten points along with six rebounds.
Tonopah Valley's loss was their fifth straight at home, which bumped their record down to 0-12. As for Yuma Catholic, they are on a roll lately: they've won three of their last four matchups, which provided a nice bump to their 10-8 record this season.
Tonopah Valley took a serious blow against Yuma Catholic in their previous matchup back in December of 2023, falling 68-9. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Wiley, who dropped a double-double on 27 points and 11 rebounds. Now that Tonopah Valley knows the damage she can cause, will they be able to stop her this time? There's only one way to find out.
