Basketball Game Preview: Hawthorne Cougars vs. Hoover Tornados

The Hawthorne Cougars and the Hoover Tornados will round out the year against one another at at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday. The two teams are sauntering into the matchup backed by comfortable wins in their prior games.

Hawthorne took a loss when they played away from home on Wednesday, but their home fans gave them all the motivation they needed on Friday. They took their match with ease, bagging a 61-28 win over Animo Leadership. The contest marked the Cougars' most dominant victory of the season so far.

Hawthorne had a senior duo take command as Alfredo Ramirez posted 14 points and Irain Bindi put up 14 points. The dominant performance gave Bindi a new career-high in points. Kordae Edwards was another key player, putting up eight points.

Meanwhile, Hoover made easy work of St. Monica Academy on Friday and carried off a 64-38 win. The Tornados have made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won three games by 26 points or more this season.

Hoover has been performing incredibly well recently as they've won six of their last seven matchups, which provided a nice bump to their 6-4 record this season. Those victories came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 62.3 points per game. As for Hawthorne, they now have a winning record of 4-3.