After both having extra time off, the Etna Lions and the Hoopa Valley Warriors will dust off their jerseys to face off against one another at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday.
Etna's tournament run continued when they took on Hamilton last Friday. Etna fell 55-45 to Hamilton. The Lions have now taken an 'L' in back-to-back games.
While Hoopa Valley didn't have the best season last year (they finished 8-13), it's starting to look like those struggles are a thing of the past. In a tight contest that could have gone either way, they made off with a 72-71 win over Amador. Given the Warriors' advantage in MaxPreps' California basketball rankings (they are ranked 372nd, while the Buffaloes are ranked 888th), the result last Saturday wasn't entirely unexpected.
Hoopa Valley's win came from a few key players Etna will need to keep an eye on. One of the most notable was Lyle Mckinnon, who went 7 for 11 on his way to 19 points and seven rebounds. The team also got some help courtesy of Brandon Romero, who dropped a double-double on 17 points and 11 rebounds.
Hoopa Valley has been performing incredibly well recently as they've won seven of their last eight games, which provided a nice bump to their 8-3 record this season. Those victories came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 62.6 points per game. As for Etna, they now have a losing record at 3-4.
Etna lost to Hoopa Valley on the road by a decisive 71-55 margin in their previous meeting back in December of 2023. Can Etna avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
