Basketball Game Preview: Lubbock-Cooper Pirates vs. Monterey Plainsmen

The Lubbock-Cooper Pirates are taking a road trip to take on the Monterey Plainsmen at 6:00 p.m. on Friday. Both teams took a loss in their last game, so they'll have plenty of motivation to get the 'W'.

Last Tuesday, Lubbock-Cooper came up short against Tascosa and fell 50-41. While losing is never fun, the Pirates can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Texas basketball rankings (they are ranked 238th, while the Rebels are ranked ninth).

Meanwhile, Monterey unfortunately witnessed the end of their seven-game winning streak on Tuesday. They fell 73-66 to Amarillo. Despite running the score up even higher than they did in their prior game last Tuesday (60), the Plainsmen still had to take the loss.

Lubbock-Cooper will have to contain Aaliyah Chavez as she made an impact in Monterey's last game. She posted 30 points and six steals. That was a full 45.5% of Monterey's points, marking the 13th time in a row she's earned more than a third of the team's points. The team also got some help courtesy of Khloei Serna, who scored 11 points.

Monterey's defeat ended a three-game streak of away wins and brought them to 29-5. As for Lubbock-Cooper, they have traveled a rocky road recently having lost three of their last four matches, which put a noticeable dent in their 10-14 record this season.

Lubbock-Cooper suffered a grim 70-49 defeat to Monterey in their previous matchup back in December of 2024. Can Lubbock-Cooper avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.