Basketball Game Preview: Desert Scorpions vs. Kern Valley Broncs

Desert is 2-8 against Kern Valley since December of 2018 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Tuesday. The Desert Scorpions will challenge the Kern Valley Broncs at 5:30 p.m. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.

Desert is headed in fresh off scoring the most points they have all season. They blew past Palmdale Academy Charter School, posting a 76-33 victory. The win made it back-to-back victories for the Scorpions.

Meanwhile, you're bound to get a positive result if you outscore your opponent every quarter, and that's exactly how it played out for Kern Valley two weeks ago. Given that consistent dominance, it should come as no surprise that they blew Boron out of the water with a 59-19 final score. With the Broncs ahead 31-10 at the half, the contest was all but over already.

Kern Valley's win came from a few key players Desert will need to keep an eye on. One of the most notable was Jessie Bunting, who dropped a double-double on 16 points and 12 boards. The dominant performance also gave her a new career-high in steals (five). Another player making a difference was Jayda Bushling, who went 7 of 12 on her way to 15 points in addition to seven assists and seven boards.

Kern Valley was working as a unit and finished the game with 22 assists. That's the most assists they've managed all season.

Desert's win was their third straight at home, which pushed their record up to 10-4. The wins came thanks to their defensive effort, having only surrendered 26.3 points per game. As for Kern Valley, their victory bumped their record up to 9-1.

Desert beat Kern Valley 69-62 in their previous matchup back in January of 2024. The rematch might be a little tougher for Desert since the team won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.