Basketball Game Preview: Porterville Panthers vs. Redwood Rangers

The Porterville Panthers will face off against the Redwood Rangers at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday. One thing working in Porterville's favor is that they have posted at least 55 points in their last 11 matches.

Porterville is probably headed into the contest with a chip on their shoulder considering Monache just ended the team's nine-game winning streak on Tuesday. They fell to the Marauders 71-66. The loss was a bit of a surprise, as the Panthers came into the game with a sizable advantage in MaxPreps' California basketball rankings (they are ranked 208th, while the Marauders are ranked 598th).

Meanwhile, there's no place like home for Redwood, who bounced back after a loss on the road on Saturday. They took down Mt. Whitney 59-42 on Tuesday.

Redwood is also on a roll lately: they've won five of their last six matchups, which provided a nice bump to their 14-9 record this season. As for Porterville, their defeat was their first in the league, dropping their league record down to 4-1 and their overall record down to 16-7.

Porterville was able to grind out a solid victory over Redwood in their previous meeting two weeks ago, winning 63-56. Will Porterville repeat their success, or does Redwood have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.