Basketball Game Preview: Central Spartans vs. Palo Verde Valley Yellow Jackets

The Central Spartans will head out to face off against the Palo Verde Valley Yellow Jackets at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday. Central will be strutting in after a victory while Palo Verde Valley will be coming in after a defeat.

Central will bounce into Tuesday's game after beating Calexico, who they had gone 2-7 against in their nine prior meetings. Central breezed by Calexico to the tune of 68-37 on Thursday. The Spartans pushed the score to 53-25 by the end of the third, a deficit the Bulldogs had little chance of recovering from.

Maryanne Barrett

Points (Career)

02/06/25 vs Calexico	24
01/16/24 vs Calexico	21
12/16/23 vs Monte Vista	17
01/23/25 vs Palo Verde Valley	16
12/17/24 vs Steele Canyon	16

Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead Central to victory, but perhaps none more so than Maryanne Barrett, who posted 24 points and eight boards. The dominant performance gave Barrett a new career-high in points. The team also got some help courtesy of Victoria Zamora, who put up 15 points.

Meanwhile, Palo Verde Valley was not able to break out of their rough patch on Friday as the team picked up their seventh straight loss. They took a blow against Vincent Memorial, falling 64-24. For those keeping track at home, that's the biggest defeat the Yellow Jackets have suffered against the Scots since May 12, 2021.

The win made it two in a row for Central and bumps their season record up to 14-11. Those victories came thanks in part to their defensive effort, having only surrendered 26.5 points over those games. As for Palo Verde Valley, their loss dropped their record down to 8-11.

Central didn't have too much breathing room in their matchup against Palo Verde Valley when the teams last played back in January, but they still walked away with a 57-51 victory. The rematch might be a little tougher for Central since the team won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.