Basketball Game Preview: Hanford Falcons vs. Eisenhower Cadets

Hanford and Eisenhower are an even 3-3 against one another since December of 2014, but not for long. The Hanford Falcons will take on the Eisenhower Cadets at 6:30 p.m. on Friday.

Hanford will head into Saturday's contest out to bounce back: they won a close one the last time they played, but unfortunately they suffered a serious change of fortune on Saturday. They took a blow against Chiawana, falling 73-22. The loss continues a trend for the Falcons in their matchups with the Riverhawks: they've now lost six in a row.

While Eisenhower didn't have the best season last year (they finished 4-15), it's starting to look like those struggles are a thing of the past. They managed a 51-47 win over Sunnyside on Saturday. Given the Cadets' advantage in MaxPreps' Washington basketball rankings (they are ranked 98th, while the Grizzlies are ranked 202nd), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

Eisenhower's win came from a few key players Hanford will need to keep an eye on. One of the most notable was Rihanna Espinoza, who went 5 of 10 on her way to 10 points and five steals. With that strong performance, she is now averaging an impressive 2.1 steals per game. The team also got some help courtesy of Nekha Roehl, who posted 12 points and eight rebounds.

Eisenhower smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 14 offensive boards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least nine offensive rebounds in nine consecutive matchups.

Hanford's defeat dropped their record down to 1-9. As for Eisenhower, they are on a roll lately: they've won four of their last five games, which provided a nice bump to their 6-3 record this season.

Hanford and Eisenhower were neck-and-neck in their previous meeting back in January of 2020, but Hanford came up empty-handed after a 60-59 loss. Can Hanford avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.