Basketball Game Preview: Live Oak Lions vs. Gridley Bulldogs

Live Oak hasn't had much luck against Gridley recently, but that could start to change on Friday. The Live Oak Lions are taking a road trip to challenge the Gridley Bulldogs at 7:30 p.m.

Live Oak is headed into Friday's match looking for a big change in momentum after dropping their eighth straight game on Tuesday. They were outmatched by Las Plumas and fell 70-39. While losing is never fun, the Lions can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' California basketball rankings (they are ranked 1099th, while the Thunderbirds are ranked 364th).

Meanwhile, Gridley waltzed into their game on Tuesday with five straight wins... but they left with six. They strolled past the Cardinals with points to spare, taking the game 48-29. The Bulldogs pushed the score to 41-20 by the end of the third, a deficit the Cardinals cut but never quite recovered from.

Gridley is on a roll lately: they've won 14 of their last 15 contests, which provided a nice bump to their 19-4 record this season. Those victories came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 59.8 points per game. As for Live Oak, their defeat dropped their record down to 7-12.

Live Oak was taken down by Gridley 73-43 when the teams last played back in January. Can Live Oak avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.