Preview: Cactus Cobras vs. Deer Valley Skyhawks
Cactus is 2-8 against Deer Valley since January of 2019 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Tuesday. Both teams will face off at 7:00 p.m. on January 16th without much rest after finishing up games yesterday. Cactus comes in on a streak of failing to score more than 23 points in their last six games, a trend the team is of course eager to reverse.
Cactus suffered their biggest loss yet this season on Thursday. They were outmatched by Estrella Foothills on the road and fell 90-10. Cactus was in a tough position after the first half, with the score already sitting at 52-6.
Meanwhile, Deer Valley had already won four in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 15 points), and they went ahead and made it five on Thursday. They enjoyed a cozy 52-37 victory over Agua Fria.
Cactus bumped their record down to 3-10 with that defeat, which was their 11th straight on the road dating back to last season. That rough patch could be blamed on the team's offensive performance across that stretch, as they only averaged 16.1 points per game. As for Deer Valley, they are on a roll lately: they've won eight of their last nine matchups, which provided a nice bump to their 11-6 record this season.
Cactus was dealt a bruising 78-14 loss at the hands of Deer Valley in their previous matchup back in January of 2023. The matchup was all but decided by halftime, at which point Cactus was down 52-10.
