Basketball Recap: Hanford West Takes a Loss

While it was all tied up 25-25 at halftime, Hanford West was not quite El Diamante's equal in the second half on Tuesday. They lost to the El Diamante Miners on the road by a 67-53 margin. While losing is never fun, the Huskies can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' California basketball rankings (they are ranked 492nd, while the Miners are ranked 232nd).

Despite the defeat, Hanford West saw an underclassman step up: sophomore Skyelar Smith dropped a double-double on 17 points and 21 rebounds. As a matter of fact, that's the most points Smith has scored all season. The team also got some help courtesy of Mckenzee Batemon, who dropped a double-double on 13 points and ten rebounds.

Even though they lost, Hanford West smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 22 offensive boards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least 11 offensive rebounds in seven consecutive contests.

Rian Jones-Dillihunt was her usual excellent self, putting up 31 points for El Diamante. The game was Jones-Dillihunt's fifth in a row with at least ten points. Another player making a difference was Mia Olson, who posted 17 points.

Hanford West now has a losing record at 3-4. As for El Diamante, they have been performing incredibly well recently as they've won six of their last seven matchups, which provided a massive bump to their 7-4 record this season.

Hanford West will head out on the road to challenge Porterville at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday. As for El Diamante, they will take on Centennial in a tournament on December 26th. El Diamante knows how to get points on the board -- the squad has finished with 55 points or more in their past six contests -- so hopefully Centennial likes a good challenge.