Basketball Game Preview: El Diamante Miners vs. Centennial Golden Hawks

Two dominant guards in Rian Jones-Dillihunt and Shekinah (Kai) Shaw are getting ready to go toe-to-toe. The El Diamante Miners and the Centennial Golden Hawks will round out the year against one another at at 10:30 a.m. on Thursday. One thing working in El Diamante's favor is that they have posted at least 55 points in their last six contests.

El Diamante is headed in fresh off scoring the most points they have all season. They strolled past Hanford West with points to spare on Tuesday, taking the game 67-53. With that win, the Miners brought their scoring average up to 51.3 points per game.

Jones-Dillihunt continued her habit of posting crazy stat lines, putting up 31 points. Her evening made it five games in a row in which she has scored at least ten points. The team also got some help courtesy of Mia Olson, who posted 17 points.

Meanwhile, Centennial waltzed into their match last Saturday with four straight wins... but they left with five. They blew past the Titans, posting an 86-41 victory. The Golden Hawks have made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won four games by 38 points or more this season.

El Diamante better focus on containing Shaw and Ishani Reyes as the pair were huge in Centennial's win. Shaw dropped a double-double on 22 points and ten boards, while Reyes went 8 of 12 from beyond the arc on her way to 26 points. The dominant performance gave Reyes a new career-high in points. The team also got some help courtesy of Aubrey Baldoz, who put up six points and ten rebounds.

Centennial smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 24 offensive boards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least 11 offensive rebounds in six consecutive contests.

El Diamante has been performing incredibly well recently as they've won six of their last seven matches, which provided a nice bump to their 7-4 record this season. The wins came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 61.1 points per game. As for Centennial, their win bumped their record up to 6-4.

El Diamante came up short against Centennial in their previous matchup back in November of 2023, falling 47-40. Can El Diamante avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.