Basketball Game Preview: Burroughs Bears vs. Ventura Cougars

Two dominant guards in Mariam Fahs and Kailee Staniland are getting ready to go toe-to-toe. The Burroughs Bears will be taking part in a tournament against the Ventura Cougars at 7:30 p.m. on Monday. Keep an eye on the score for this one: both posted some lofty point totals in their previous games.

Burroughs is headed in fresh off scoring the most points they have all season. They took a 90-83 hit to the loss column at the hands of Valencia on Saturday. Despite running the score up even higher than they did in their prior game on Friday (61), the Bears still had to take the loss.

Despite the defeat, Burroughs got top-tier performance from Fahs, who went 11 of 17 on her way to 36 points along with six assists and six steals. The team also got some help courtesy of Valentina Morales, who dropped a double-double on 14 points and 13 boards.

Meanwhile, Ventura came tearing into Friday's contest with nine straight wins (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 22.1 points) and they left with even more momentum. They enjoyed a cozy 64-50 victory over the Royals. Given the Cougars' advantage in MaxPreps' California basketball rankings (they are ranked 12th, while the Royals are ranked 112th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

Ventura found their leader in sophomore Brinley Anderson, who dropped a double-double on 14 points and 18 rebounds. Anderson is crushing it when it comes to boards: she's pulled down at least eight every time she's taken the court this season. The team also got some help courtesy of Staniland, who posted 16 points in addition to seven assists and five boards.

Burroughs has been struggling recently as they've lost three of their last four matches, which put a noticeable dent in their 8-5 record this season. That patch can't be blamed on the team's offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 56.0 points per game. As for Ventura, their win bumped their record up to 11-2.

Burroughs didn't have too much breathing room in their game against Ventura when the teams last played back in December of 2014, but they still walked away with a 55-50 victory. One of the biggest obstacles trying to stand in the way of that victory was Ventura's Aubrey Knight, who dropped a double-double on 21 points and 13 rebounds. Now that she won't be playing on Monday, will it be easier for Burroughs to walk away with another win? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.