Preview: Sangre de Cristo Thunderbirds vs. Swink Lions
Two dominant in Kaiden Smit and Hunter Bauserman are getting ready to go toe-to-toe. The Sangre de Cristo Thunderbirds will head out on the road to square off against the Swink Lions at 3:00 p.m. on Friday. The matchup should be an exciting one, as these teams are ranked near one another in Colorado (Sangre de Cristo is ranked 212th, while Swink is ranked 206th).
It may have taken double overtime to finish the job, but Sangre de Cristo ultimately got the result they hoped for on Tuesday. They narrowly escaped with a victory as the team sidled past Del Norte 37-35. For those keeping track at home, that's the closest win Sangre de Cristo has posted yet this season.
Sangre de Cristo's victory was a true team effort, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was Smit, who dropped a double-double on 15 points and 13 rebounds. Smit hasn't dropped below eight rebounds for four straight games. The team also got some help courtesy of Kolby Shellabarger, who scored 11 points along with four steals.
Meanwhile, Swink's recent rough patch got a bit rougher on Tuesday after their fourth straight loss. They fell 60-50 to Swallows Charter Academy.
Sangre de Cristo is on a roll lately: they've won three of their last four matchups, which provided a nice bump to their 6-4 record this season. As for Swink, their loss was their fourth straight at home, which dropped their record down to 5-8.
Sangre de Cristo might still be hurting after the 54-33 defeat they got from Swink in their previous meeting back in January of 2023. Can Sangre de Cristo avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
