Basketball Game Preview: Centennial Hawks vs. Gadsden Panthers

Centennial has gone 9-1 against Gadsden recently and they'll look to pad the win column further on Monday. The Centennial Hawks will welcome the Gadsden Panthers at 6:00 p.m. Both teams took a loss in their last game, so they'll have plenty of motivation to get the 'W'.

Centennial easily dispatched Organ Mountain on Monday, but unfortunately both the margin and the ultimate result were a different story in this one. Centennial fell just short of Las Cruces by a score of 40-38 on Thursday. The Hawks haven't had much luck with the Bulldawgs recently, as the team has come up short the last four times they've met.

Joy Hunt

Rebounds

02/20/25 @ Las Cruces	13
02/17/25 vs Organ Mountain	13
01/27/25 vs Gadsden	10
12/31/24 vs Riverside	9
01/11/25 @ Carlsbad	8
+ 20 more games

The loss doesn't tell the whole story though, as several players had good games. One of the most active was Joy Hunt, who dropped a double-double with ten points and 13 boards. Centennial is 2-1 when Hunt posts ten or more rebounds, but 9-13 otherwise. The team also got some help courtesy of Kennedy Maestas, who posted nine points.

Even though they lost, Centennial smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 14 offensive boards. The team's really been improving in that area: they've now improved their offensive board total in three consecutive contests.

Meanwhile, Gadsden was not able to break out of their rough patch on Thursday as the team picked up their fifth straight loss. They came up short against Alamogordo, falling 38-17.

Gadsden's defeat dropped their record down to 9-16. As for Centennial, their loss dropped their record down to 11-14.

Centennial took their victory against Gadsden in their previous meeting last Thursday by a conclusive 44-18. Does Centennial have another victory up their sleeve, or will Gadsden turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.