Basketball Preview: La Veta Redhawks vs. Sangre de Cristo Thunderbirds
La Veta is 1-9 against the Thunderbirds since February of 2015 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Monday. The pair will face off at 4:30 p.m. on February 5th without much rest after finishing up games yesterday. Hopefully La Veta focused on turnovers this week since the team gave up 23 on Friday.
Last Friday, La Veta's game was all tied up 23-23 at the half, but luckily for them it didn't stay that way. They came out on top against Walsh by a score of 50-37. The victory was just what La Veta needed coming off of a 78-25 loss in their prior match.
Aspen Autry was her usual excellent self, dropping a double-double on 33 points and 13 steals. That makes it 15 consecutive games in which she has scored at least a third of La Veta's points. Another player making a difference was Zoe Reif, who scored six points along with ten rebounds and four blocks.
Meanwhile, Sangre de Cristo entered their tilt with the Mustangs with two consecutive wins but they'll enter their next game with three. Sangre de Cristo came out on top in a nail-biter against the Mustangs on Saturday and snuck past 40-37.
La Veta's win ended a three-game drought on the road and puts them at 7-8. As for Sangre de Cristo, they are on a roll lately: they've won four of their last five matchups, which provided a nice bump to their 9-3 record this season.
La Veta was dealt a bruising 67-36 loss at the hands of the Thunderbirds in their previous meeting back in January of 2023. Thankfully for La Veta, Peyton Metz (who almost dropped a double-double on 28 points and nine steals) won't be suiting up this time. Will that be enough to change the final result? There's only one way to find out.
