Basketball Game Preview: Sierra Grande Panthers vs. Hoehne Farmers

The Sierra Grande Panthers will venture away from home to challenge the Hoehne Farmers at 6:00 p.m. on Thursday. One thing working in Sierra Grande's favor is that they have posted at least 55 points in their last nine matches.

Sierra Grande is headed into the contest after thoroughly thrashing La Veta: they outscored them in every quarter. Given that consistent dominance, it should come as no surprise that Sierra Grande blew La Veta out of the water with a 65-31 final score. The Panthers have made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won ten games by 22 points or more this season.

Meanwhile, Hoehne played a tough match on Friday in which they were outscored in every quarter. They lost 85-60 to Kim/Branson. The Farmers were down 76-50 at the end of the third quarter, which was just too much to recover from.

Sierra Grande will have to contain Bobby Terry as he made an impact in Hoehne's last game. He went 10 of 14 on his way to 20 points along with five boards and three blocks. What's more, Terry also posted a 71% shooting accuracy, which is the highest he's posted since back in November of 2023. Another player making a difference was Caden Marquez, who posted 12 points.

Even though they lost, Hoehne smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 13 offensive rebounds. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least eight offensive boards in 18 consecutive contests dating back to last season.

Sierra Grande pushed their record up to 14-2 with the victory, which was their third straight on the road. The wins came thanks in part to their defensive effort, having only surrendered 22.0 points over those games. As for Hoehne, their loss dropped their record down to 8-8.

Sierra Grande came out on top in a nail-biter against Hoehne when the teams last played back in February of 2024, sneaking past 45-43. The rematch might be a little tougher for Sierra Grande since the team won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.