Basketball Game Preview: Beaumont Cougars vs. Redlands East Valley Wildcats

Beaumont is 9-1 against Redlands East Valley since December of 2019 and they'll have a chance to extend that success on Thursday. A feisty cat fight is on tap when the Beaumont Cougars challenge the Redlands East Valley Wildcats at 6:30 p.m. Beaumont is strutting in with some offensive muscle as they've averaged 57.6 points per game this season.

Beaumont took a loss when they played away from home on Thursday, but their home fans gave them all the motivation they needed on Tuesday. They blew past Citrus Valley, posting a 75-21 win. Given the Cougars' advantage in MaxPreps' California basketball rankings (they are ranked 227th, while the Blackhawks are ranked 1058th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

Amirah Jones continued her habit of posting crazy stat lines, dropping a double-double on 21 points and 13 rebounds. The dominant performance also gave her a new career-high in blocks (four). Jasmin Craner was another key player, going 6 of 9 on her way to 15 points.

Beaumont smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 21 offensive boards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least nine offensive rebounds in nine consecutive matches.

Meanwhile, after a string of three wins, Redlands East Valley's good fortune finally ran out on Tuesday. They lost 54-33 to Yucaipa.

Beaumont is on a roll lately: they've won six of their last seven games, which provided a nice bump to their 14-6 record this season. The wins came thanks to their defensive effort, having only surrendered 29.9 points per game. As for Redlands East Valley, their defeat ended a three-game streak of away wins and brought them to 13-11.

Beaumont took their victory against Redlands East Valley in their previous meeting on January 14th by a conclusive 60-34. Will Beaumont repeat their success, or does Redlands East Valley have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.