Basketball Game Preview: Salinas Cowboys vs. Watsonville Wildcatz

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Previous Games

01/10/25 - Home	49-35 W
01/29/24 - Away	48-43 W
01/05/24 - Home	53-49 W
02/11/23 - Home	26-45 L
02/01/23 - Away	53-46 W
+ 4 more games

Salinas is 7-2 against Watsonville since December of 2015 and they'll have a chance to extend that success on Monday. The Salinas Cowboys will take on the Watsonville Wildcatz at 7:00 p.m. Salinas is coming into the matchup hot, having won their last four games.

If Watsonville heads into halftime all tied up, they better play a good second half: that's when Salinas took over last week. Salinas escaped with a win on Saturday against Monterey by the margin of a single free throw, 40-39. Given the Cowboys' advantage in MaxPreps' California basketball rankings (they are ranked 322nd, while the Dores are ranked 796th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead Salinas to victory, but perhaps none more so than Alice Uchida, who posted 14 points. The team also got some help courtesy of Jennifer Rivera, who scored 11 points.

Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Watsonville). They breezed by Everett Alvarez to the tune of 70-16 on Thursday. The Wildcatz have made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won 11 contests by 21 points or more this season.

Watsonville's victory was their eighth straight at home dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 16-4. The wins came thanks to their defensive effort, having only surrendered 26.5 points per game. As for Salinas, they are on a roll lately: they've won nine of their last ten games, which provided a massive bump to their 13-7 record this season.

Salinas strolled past Watsonville when the teams last played back in January by a score of 49-35. The rematch might be a little tougher for Salinas since the squad won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.