Ponderosa has enjoyed the comforts of home their last five games, but now they'll head out on the road. They will square off against the Chaparral Wolverines at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday. Hopefully Ponderosa focused on turnovers this week since the team gave up 22 on Tuesday.
Last Tuesday, Ponderosa had to suffer through a rough 63-28 loss at the hands of the Grizzlies. While losing is never fun, Ponderosa can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Colorado basketball rankings (they are ranked 151st, while the Grizzlies are ranked 30th).
Despite the loss, Ponderosa got a solid performance out of Maddison Neale, who scored 19 points along with four steals.
Meanwhile, after only 18 points in their last contest, Chaparral made sure to put some points up on the board against the Eagles on Tuesday. Chaparral took their match at home with ease, bagging a 59-30 win over the Eagles. Winning is a bit easier when you make six more threes than your opponent, as Chaparral did.
Chaparral can attribute much of their success to Lauren Thompson, who almost dropped a double-double on 12 points and nine rebounds, and Reagan Lentell, who scored 21 points along with four steals. As a matter of fact, that's the most points Lentell has scored all season. The team also got some help courtesy of Maddie Jenkins, who scored 12 points.
Ponderosa has traveled a rocky road recently having lost five of their last six matchups, which put a noticeable dent in their 5-13 record this season. As for Chaparral, they have been performing well recently as they've won four of their last five contests, which provided a nice bump to their 12-5 record this season.
This contest is one where the number of possessions is likely to be a big factor: Ponderosa have been smashing the glass this season, having averaged 24.9 rebounds per game. However, it's not like Chaparral struggles in that department as they've been averaging 27.4 rebounds per game. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
Ponderosa was dealt a bruising 64-33 loss at the hands of the Wolverines when the teams last played back in December of 2023. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Thompson, who dropped a double-double on 12 points and ten rebounds. Now that Ponderosa knows the damage she can cause, will they be able to stop her this time? There's only one way to find out.
