Preview: Sierra Blanca Vaqueros vs. Van Horn Eagles
Sierra Blanca is 2-8 against Van Horn since December of 2021 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Tuesday. The Sierra Blanca Vaqueros will head out on the road to square off against the Van Horn Eagles at 6:00 p.m. Both teams come into the contest bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
Two weeks ago, Sierra Blanca was able to grind out a solid win over Dell City, taking the game 39-26. The win was just what Sierra Blanca needed coming off of a 56-18 defeat in their prior game.
Sierra Blanca's success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but Haylee Walker led the charge by scoring 15 points. Amaya Sanchez was another key contributor, scoring 13 points.
Meanwhile, Van Horn had already won two in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 19.5 points), and they went ahead and made it three on Friday. They blew past Big Bend 44-19. For those keeping track at home, that's the biggest victory Van Horn has posted since December 7, 2023.
Van Horn got their victory on the backs of several key players, but it was Mallory Mendoza out in front who scored nine points along with seven rebounds and two steals. The team also got some help courtesy of Taylor Martinez, who scored ten points along with six rebounds.
Sierra Blanca's win ended a four-game drought at home and bumped them up to 5-7. As for Van Horn, they are on a roll lately: they've won seven of their last eight matches, which provided a massive bump to their 14-7 record this season.
Sierra Blanca came up short against Van Horn in their previous matchup back in December of 2023, falling 26-21. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Martinez, who dropped a double-double on 18 points and 16 rebounds. Now that Sierra Blanca knows the damage she can cause, will they be able to stop her this time? There's only one way to find out.
