Basketball Game Preview: Liberty Ranch Hawks vs. El Dorado Cougars

By Team Reports Jan 14, 2024, 3:21am

Preview: Liberty Ranch Hawks vs. El Dorado Cougars

Liberty Ranch has enjoyed a three-game homestand but will soon have to dust off their road jerseys. They will challenge the El Dorado Cougars at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday. Hopefully Liberty Ranch is not getting complacent, as they presents a significant challenge as they come into the match much higher ranked than El Dorado in California (Liberty Ranch is ranked 267th, while El Dorado is ranked 655th).

Liberty Ranch put the finishing touches on their 14th blowout victory of the season on Friday. They blew past Galt 68-11 at home. The game was pretty much decided by the half, when the score had already reached 43-3.

Meanwhile, El Dorado was able to grind out a solid victory over Union Mine on Friday, taking the game 43-35. The win made it back-to-back wins for El Dorado.

Alana Schneider continued her habit of posting crazy stat lines, dropping a double-double on 23 points and 14 rebounds. She hasn't dropped below eight rebounds for 14 straight games. The team also got some help courtesy of Kali Cusic, who scored four points along with five steals.

Liberty Ranch's victory was their 13th straight at home dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 17-4. Those victories were due in large part to their offensive dominance across that stretch, as they averaged 58.9 points per game. As for El Dorado, they have been performing well recently as they've won three of their last four matchups, which provided a nice bump to their 11-9 record this season.

Liberty Ranch and El Dorado were neck-and-neck in their previous matchup back in February of 2023, but Liberty Ranch came up empty-handed after a 48-47 loss. Can Liberty Ranch avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.