Basketball Game Preview: Battle Mountain Longhorns vs. West Wendover Wolverines

After both having extra time off, the Battle Mountain Longhorns and the West Wendover Wolverines will dust off their jerseys to take on one another at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday. Battle Mountain will be strutting in after a win while West Wendover will be coming in after a loss.

Battle Mountain is headed into the matchup after thoroughly thrashing Incline: they outscored them in every quarter. Given that consistent dominance, it should come as no surprise that Battle Mountain blew Incline out of the water with a 47-10 final score. The Longhorns have made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won four games by 25 points or more this season.

Paitynn Johns

Points

12/21/24 @ Incline	16
12/13/24 @ Pershing County	11
12/14/24 @ Coral Academy of Science - Reno	7
12/20/24 @ North Tahoe	6
12/17/24 @ Lowry	4

Battle Mountain found their leader in sophomore Paitynn Johns, who dropped a double-double on 16 points and 17 boards. As a matter of fact, that's the most points Johns has scored all season. Another player making a difference was Harlee Andersen, who posted five points in addition to six boards and three steals.

Battle Mountain was working as a unit and finished the game with 15 assists. That's the most assists they've managed all season.

Meanwhile, West Wendover didn't have quite enough to beat North Tahoe last Saturday and fell 41-39. The defeat continues a trend for the Wolverines in their matchups with the Lakers: they've now lost seven in a row.

Battle Mountain will have to contain Shay Neaman as she made an impact in West Wendover's last game. She went 7 of 11 on her way to 15 points along with six boards and four steals. Neaman has been hot, having posted two or more steals the last five times she's played. The team also got some help courtesy of Nataly Gonzalez-Haro, who put up eight points and three steals.

West Wendover now has a losing record at 4-5. As for Battle Mountain, their victory bumped their record up to 8-2.

Battle Mountain came up short against West Wendover when the teams last played back in January, falling 38-32. Can Battle Mountain avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.