Basketball Game Preview: Thunderbird Titans vs. Paradise Honors Panthers

The Thunderbird Titans and the Paradise Honors Panthers will face off at 7:00 p.m. on Friday without much rest having both just played. Each of these teams will be fighting to keep a win streak alive as Thunderbird comes in on three and Paradise Honors on nine.

Thunderbird is headed into the game after thoroughly thrashing Goldwater: they outscored them in every quarter. Given that consistent dominance, it should come as no surprise that Thunderbird blew Goldwater out of the water with a 57-20 final score. The Titans pushed the score to 46-12 by the end of the third, a deficit the Bulldogs had no chance of recovering from.

Roscella Tsosie and Isabella Illingworth were among the main playmakers for Thunderbird as the former went 7 of 12 on her way to 16 points and six steals and the latter dropped a double-double on 14 points and ten boards. The dominant performance also gave Tsosie a new career-high in rebounds (four). Another player making a difference was Parker Stanley, who posted eight points.

Meanwhile, Paradise Honors was fully in charge on Thursday, breezing past Moon Valley 52-15. The Panthers have made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won 17 matches by 23 points or more this season.

Thunderbird better keep an eye on Morgan Van Dyke. She was instrumental in Paradise Honors' win, going 8 for 12 en route to 17 points in addition to eight steals and six boards. Van Dyke is crushing it when it comes to steals: she's grabbed at least two every time she's taken the court this season. Genesis Kanae was another key player, putting up seven points along with five rebounds and four steals.

Paradise Honors smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 19 offensive boards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least nine offensive rebounds in 11 consecutive contests.

Paradise Honors pushed their record up to 18-4 with the victory, which was their eighth straight on the road. Those victories came thanks to their defensive effort, having only surrendered 17.1 points per game. As for Thunderbird, their win ended a three-game drought on the road and puts them at 12-10.

Thunderbird was taken down by Paradise Honors 60-12 in their previous meeting on January 15th. Can Thunderbird avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.