Basketball Game Preview: Pioneer Patriots vs. Vacaville Bulldogs

The Pioneer Patriots are taking a road trip to face off against the Vacaville Bulldogs at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday. Both come into the contest bolstered by wins in their previous matches.

Last Tuesday, everything went Pioneer's way against River City as Pioneer made off with a 44-20 win. The Patriots pushed the score to 33-7 by the end of the third, a deficit the Raiders cut but never quite recovered from.

Peyton Thorpe was the offensive standout of the game as she dropped a double-double on 13 points and 16 boards. The dominant performance also gave her a new career-high in steals (four). Yasmine Romero also deserves some recognition as she scored her first points of the season.

Pioneer smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 29 offensive rebounds. That's the most offensive boards they've managed all season.

Meanwhile, after only 23 points in their last match, Vacaville made sure to put some points up on the board against Rodriguez on Tuesday. Vacaville came out on top against Rodriguez by a score of 64-56.

Vacaville's win came from a few key players Pioneer will need to keep an eye on. One of the most notable was Lula Kifle, who posted 13 points. The team also got some help courtesy of Gianna L?pez, who had 15 points.

Vacaville's record now sits at 8-12. As for Pioneer, they have been performing well recently as they've won six of their last eight contests, which provided a nice bump to their 10-12 record this season.

Pioneer didn't have too much breathing room in their game against Vacaville when the teams last played back in January, but they still walked away with a 62-56 victory. One of the biggest obstacles the team faced in that game was Kifle, who scored 20 points in addition to seven rebounds and five assists. Now that she's got a second chance to win this matchup, will Pioneer still be able to contain Kifle? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.