The Ponderosa Mustangs struggled with assists on Thursday (the Chaparral Wolverines had 17 more) and sadly the final score reflected it. Ponderosa was beaten by the Wolverines 68-29. Ponderosa has struggled against the Wolverines recently, as their game on Thursday was their seventh consecutive lost matchup.
Maddison Neale and Haley Roderick certainly did their best on Thursday to avoid the loss. Neale scored 11 points along with five rebounds and two steals, while Roderick scored four points along with two steals. That was a full 37.9% of Ponderosa's points, marking the third time in a row she's earned more than a third of the team's points.
Ponderosa struggled to work together and finished the game with only three assists. They are 1-4 when they just don't pass the ball.
Chaparral found their leader in underclassman Lauren Thompson, who dropped a double-double on 16 points and 13 rebounds. The team also got some help courtesy of Reagan Lentell, who scored 13 points along with five rebounds.
Ponderosa has not been sharp recently as the team's lost six of their last seven matches, which put a noticeable dent in their 5-14 record this season. As for Chaparral, the victory makes it two in a row for them and bumps their season record up to 13-5.
Both teams will have to hit the road in their upcoming games. Ponderosa will face off against the Jaguars at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday. Rock Canyon presents a significant challenge as they come into the match much higher ranked than the Mustangs in Colorado (the Jaguars are ranked 23rd, while the Mustangs are ranked 152nd). As for Chaparral, they will head out on the road to face off against the Warriors at 6:00 p.m. on Monday. Hopefully Arapahoe focused on turnovers this week since the team gave up 23 on Friday.
