Basketball Game Preview: Mt. Whitney Pioneers vs. Redwood Rangers

The Mt. Whitney Pioneers will challenge the Redwood Rangers at 7:15 p.m. on Thursday. The squads are rolling into the game with opposing streaks: Mt. Whitney has struggled recently with 12 losses in a row, while Redwood will arrive with three straight victories.

Last Tuesday, Mt. Whitney took a blow against Porterville, falling 80-46. While losing is never fun, the Pioneers can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' California basketball rankings (they are ranked 1176th, while the Panthers are ranked 221st).

Meanwhile, Redwood posted their closest win since February 6, 2024 on Tuesday. They came out on top in a nail-biter against El Diamante, sneaking past 40-37.

Redwood has also been performing well recently as they've won eight of their last ten matchups, which provided a nice bump to their 17-10 record this season. As for Mt. Whitney, their defeat dropped their record down to 2-24.

Things could have been worse for Mt. Whitney, but things could have been a whole lot better as they took a 59-42 loss to Redwood when the teams last played back in January. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Redwood's Cole Gilcrest, who dropped a double-double on 24 points and 13 boards. Now that Mt. Whitney knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.