Basketball Preview: Hughson Huskies vs. Escalon Cougars
Hughson is on a five-game streak of home wins, while the Cougars are on a five-game streak of away wins: one of those streaks is about to end. The pair will face off at 7:00 p.m. on February 6th without much rest after finishing up games yesterday. Both teams come into the match bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
Last Friday, Hughson didn't have too much trouble with the Indians on the road as they won 50-33. Given Hughson's advantage in MaxPreps' California basketball rankings (they are ranked 247th, while the Indians are ranked 768th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
It was another big night for Madi Duron, who dropped a double-double on 16 points and 11 rebounds. She has been hot recently, having posted two or more steals the last 18 times she's played. Kareena Kang was another key contributor, scoring 12 points along with two steals.
Meanwhile, Escalon stacked a 17th blowout win onto their ever-increasing hoard on Friday. Everything went their way against Livingston as Escalon made off with a 45-23 win. Winning is a bit easier when you outrebound your opponent 22 to 7 on the offensive boards, as Escalon did.
Sammy Lang was her usual excellent self, almost dropping a double-double on 12 points and nine steals. Lang is crushing the steal category: she's posted at least two every time she's taken the court this season. The team also got some help courtesy of Chloe Farley, who scored eight points along with ten rebounds and two steals.
Hughson is on a roll lately: they've won ten of their last 11 matchups, which provided a nice bump to their 19-7 record this season. As for Escalon, their win bumped their record up to 23-2.
Hughson beat the Cougars 61-53 when the teams last played back in January. One of the biggest obstacles the team faced in that game was Escalon's Arianna Velasco, who scored 15 points along with seven rebounds and five assists. Now that she's got a second chance to win this matchup, will Hughson still be able to contain Velasco? There's only one way to find out.
