Basketball Game Preview: Pleasant Grove Eagles vs. Liberty Ranch Hawks

It'll be a Battle of the Birds when the Pleasant Grove Eagles challenge the Liberty Ranch Hawks at 2:00 p.m. on Monday... Both teams are coming into the game red-hot, with Pleasant Grove sitting on four straight victories and Liberty Ranch on 14.

Pleasant Grove is headed into the matchup after thoroughly thrashing Elk Grove: they outscored them in every quarter. Pleasant Grove took down Elk Grove 35-21 on Friday. Given the Eagles' advantage in MaxPreps' California basketball rankings (they are ranked 223rd, while the Thundering Herd are ranked 982nd), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

Meanwhile, Liberty Ranch earned a 52-45 win over Rosemont on Friday.

Liberty Ranch's win came from a few key players Pleasant Grove will need to keep an eye on. One of the most notable was Kendall Duryee, who went 6 of 13 en route to 15 points along with seven rebounds and five assists. The team also got some help courtesy of Madisyn Robbins, who posted 14 points and eight boards.

Liberty Ranch smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 16 offensive rebounds. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least eight offensive boards in eight consecutive contests.

Liberty Ranch's victory was their ninth straight on the road dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 16-2. They've dominated over that stretch too, winning by an average of 33.2 points. As for Pleasant Grove, they have been performing well recently as they've won nine of their last 12 games, which provided a nice bump to their 12-5 record this season.

Pleasant Grove came out on top in a nail-biter against Liberty Ranch when the teams last played back in December of 2019, sneaking past 46-43. Will Pleasant Grove repeat their success, or does Liberty Ranch have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.