Basketball Game Preview: Santa Ynez Pirates vs. Hanford Bullpups

After both having extra time off, the Santa Ynez Pirates and the Hanford Bullpups will shake off the cobwebs and take on one another at 1:30 p.m. on Thursday. Santa Ynez will be strutting in after a win while Hanford will be coming in after a defeat.

Two weeks ago, Santa Ynez strolled past Nipomo with points to spare, taking the game 53-34. Given the Pirates' advantage in MaxPreps' California basketball rankings (they are ranked 370th, while the Titans are ranked 820th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

Santa Ynez's success was spearheaded by the efforts of Helina Pecile, who dropped a double-double on 13 points and 12 boards, and Rylan Agin, who went 6 of 11 on her way to 17 points and eight rebounds. Santa Ynez is 4-1 when Pecile posts ten or more rebounds, but 2-3 otherwise. The team also got some help courtesy of Lexi Molera, who posted 12 points.

Meanwhile, it's never fun to lose, and it's even less fun to lose 64-24, which was the final score in Hanford's tilt against Sierra last Saturday. The loss continues a trend for the Bullpups in their matchups with the Chieftains: they've now lost five in a row.

Santa Ynez pushed their record up to 6-4 with the victory, which was their tenth straight on the road dating back to last season. As for Hanford, their defeat dropped their record down to 1-6.