The Monterey Trail Mustangs will venture away from home to square off against the Elk Grove Thundering Herd at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. One thing working in Monterey Trail's favor is that they have posted at least 55 points every time they've taken the court this season.
Monterey Trail will bounce into Friday's contest after beating Sheldon, who they had gone 0-9 against in their nine prior meetings. Monterey Trail narrowly escaped with a victory as the team sidled past Sheldon 65-62. Given the Mustangs' advantage in MaxPreps' California basketball rankings (they are ranked 24th, while the Huskies are ranked 233rd), the result on Wednesday wasn't entirely unexpected.
| 01/08/25 vs Sheldon | 2 |
| 01/04/25 @ Folsom | 2 |
| 12/30/24 vs Sierra Vista | 6 |
| 12/28/24 vs Mater Dei Catholic | 2 |
| 12/27/24 vs Liberty | 6 |
Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead Monterey Trail to victory, but perhaps none more so than Rashawn Inglemon, who went 10 of 16 en route to 25 points. Inglemon has been hot, having also posted two or more steals the last eight times he's played. Another player making a difference was Derron White, who posted 13 points in addition to six rebounds and five assists.
Meanwhile, Elk Grove unfortunately witnessed the end of their three-game winning streak on Wednesday. They took a 69-63 hit to the loss column at the hands of Laguna Creek.
Monterey Trail will need focus on slowing down Noah Hargrave, one of several Elk Grove players who made an impact when they last played. He went 10 for 22 on his way to 22 points and three steals. The team also got some help courtesy of Danny Dennaoui, who dropped a double-double on 11 points and 11 boards.
Even though they lost, Elk Grove smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 16 offensive rebounds. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least eight offensive boards in 14 consecutive games.
Monterey Trail has been performing incredibly well recently as they've won eight of their last nine matches, which provided a nice bump to their 12-2 record this season. Those victories came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 71.3 points per game. As for Elk Grove, their loss dropped their record down to 12-3.
Some high-performance offense is likely on the agenda as Monterey Trail and Elk Grove are some of the highest scoring teams in the league. Monterey Trail hasn't had any problem running up the score this season, having averaged 69.4 points per game. However, it's not like Elk Grove struggles in that department as they've been averaging 61.8 points. With both teams so easily able to put up points, the only question left is who can run the score up higher.
Monterey Trail ended up a good deal behind Elk Grove in their previous meeting back in December of 2019, losing 75-60. Can Monterey Trail avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
