Basketball Game Preview: Pioneer Mustangs vs. Willow Glen Rams

The Pioneer Mustangs are taking a road trip to square off against the Willow Glen Rams at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday. Given that both suffered a loss in their last games, they both have a little extra motivation heading into this matchup.

On Tuesday, Pioneer came up short against Prospect and fell 56-44. While losing is never fun, the Mustangs can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' California basketball rankings (they are ranked 540th, while the Panthers are ranked 220th).

Meanwhile, Willow Glen suffered their closest defeat since December 2, 2023 on Saturday. They fell just short of Prospect by a score of 46-43. For those keeping track at home, that's the closest loss the Rams have suffered against the Panthers since May 27, 2021.

This is the second loss in a row for Willow Glen and nudges their season record down to 11-7. As for Pioneer, they have been struggling recently as they've lost seven of their last nine games, which put a noticeable dent in their 8-10 record this season.

Pioneer came up short against Willow Glen in their previous matchup on January 9th, falling 55-42. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Willow Glen's Natalia Valerio, who dropped a double-double on 22 points and ten rebounds. Now that Pioneer knows the damage she can cause, will they be able to stop her this time? There's only one way to find out.