The Cuba Rams will head out on the road to square off against the Sandia Prep Sundevils at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday. The two teams are sauntering into the matchup backed by comfortable wins in their prior games.
Cuba is headed into the match after thoroughly thrashing East Mountain: they outscored them in every quarter. Given that consistent dominance, it should come as no surprise that Cuba blew East Mountain out of the water with a 68-30 final score. The Rams have made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won eight games by 20 points or more this season.
Denale Sandoval
| 02/20/25 @ East Mountain | 18 |
| 02/18/25 vs Sandia Prep | 12 |
| 02/13/25 @ Bosque | 14 |
| 02/06/25 vs Cottonwood Classical Prep | 9 |
| 02/04/25 vs East Mountain | 12 |
| + 12 more games |
Cuba's victory was a true team effort, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was Denale Sandoval, who dropped a double-double with 18 points and ten rebounds. That's the most points Sandoval has posted since back in December of 2024. The team also got some help courtesy of Cara Toledo, who dropped a double-double with 15 points and ten boards.
Cuba smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 18 offensive rebounds. They pulled down eight more offensive boards than East Mountain's also-impressive total of ten.
Meanwhile, Sandia Prep came tearing into Thursday's contest with four straight wins (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 17.3 points), and they left with even more momentum. They claimed a resounding 51-23 win over the Bobcats. The Sundevils pushed the score to 37-16 by the end of the third, a deficit the Bobcats had little chance of recovering from.
Sandia Prep's win came from a few key players Cuba will need to keep an eye on. One of the most notable was Taylor Calkins, who put up 15 points and five rebounds. Madlyn Dopson was another key player, putting up seven points in addition to six assists and three steals.
Cuba pushed their record up to 13-13 with the victory, which was their fourth straight on the road. The wins came thanks in part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 60.8 points over those games. As for Sandia Prep, their record now sits at 14-10.
Cuba ended up a good deal behind Sandia Prep in their previous meeting on Tuesday, losing 43-25. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Dopson, who went 6-for-9 on her way to 18 points. Now that Cuba knows the damage she can cause, will they be able to stop her this time? There's only one way to find out.
