Preview: Chaparral Wolverines vs. Douglas County Huskies
Chaparral has enjoyed the comforts of home their last four games, but now they'll head out on the road. They will take on the Douglas County Huskies at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday. Hopefully Chaparral focused on turnovers this week since the team gave up ten on Friday.
Winning is just a little bit easier when you work as a team to post eight more assists than your opponent, a fact Chaparral proved. They walked away with a 62-50 win over Mountain Vista. Given Chaparral's advantage in MaxPreps' Colorado basketball rankings (they are ranked 21st, while Mountain Vista is ranked 94th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Chaparral's victory was a true team effort, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was Reagan Lentell, who scored 19 points along with seven rebounds and four steals. As a matter of fact, that's the most points Lentell has scored all season. The team also got some help courtesy of Lauren Thompson, who dropped a double-double on 13 points and 12 rebounds.
Meanwhile, Douglas County ended up a good deal behind ThunderRidge on Friday and lost 47-33. The loss unfortunately continues a disappointing trend for Douglas County in their matchups with ThunderRidge: they've now lost nine in a row.
Even though the team lost, they still had their share of impressive performances. One of the most dominant came from Sofia Baldessari, who scored 14 points along with four steals. That was a full 42.4% of Douglas County's points, marking the third time in a row she's earned more than a third of the team's points. Another player making a difference was Ciara Laman, who scored nine points along with six rebounds and two steals.
Chaparral is on a roll lately: they've won three of their last four games, which provided a nice bump to their 10-4 record this season. As for Douglas County, their defeat ended a four-game streak of wins at home and dropped them to 9-7.
Tuesday's matchup will pit two of the most dominant against one another: Thompson and Baldessari. Thompson has been dynamite this season: she has averaged 12.3 points, 4.1 steals, and 7.7 rebounds. For her part, Baldessari has averaged 20.3 points, 2.9 steals, and 1.1 blocks.
Chaparral might still be hurting after the 63-38 loss they got from Douglas County in their previous matchup back in January of 2023. Can Chaparral avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
