Basketball Game Preview: Carpinteria Warriors vs. Santa Paula Cardinals

Carpinteria is 2-8 against Santa Paula since February of 2020 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Friday. The Carpinteria Warriors will venture away from home to square off against the Santa Paula Cardinals at 7:00 p.m.

Carpinteria is headed into the match having just suffered their biggest loss since December 5, 2024 on Wednesday. They came up short against Channel Islands, falling 75-54.

Meanwhile, there's no place like home for Santa Paula, who bounced back after a loss on the road on Saturday. They blew past Fillmore 81-51 on Wednesday. Given the Cardinals' advantage in MaxPreps' California basketball rankings (they are ranked 472nd, while the Flashes are ranked 1036th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

Santa Paula has also been performing well recently as they've won four of their last five contests, which provided a nice bump to their 15-8 record this season. As for Carpinteria, their defeat ended a three-game streak of wins at home and dropped them to 10-11.

Carpinteria came up short against Santa Paula in their previous meeting on January 8th, falling 72-66. Can Carpinteria avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.