Bakersfield and Independence are an even 5-5 against one another since December of 2016, but not for long. The Bakersfield Drillers will be playing at home against the Independence Falcons at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday. One thing working in Bakersfield's favor is that they have posted at least 55 points in their last 12 contests.
Bakersfield is headed in fresh off scoring the most points they have all season. They took their game on Thursday with ease, bagging an 88-52 win over Ridgeview. The matchup was pretty much decided by the half, when the score had already reached 52-24.
Kade Johnson
| 02/06/25 @ Ridgeview | 25 |
| 02/04/25 @ Bakersfield Christian | 27 |
| 01/30/25 vs Centennial | 23 |
| 01/28/25 vs Highland | 20 |
| 01/23/25 @ Independence | 21 |
| 01/21/25 vs Ridgeview | 30 |
Bakersfield can attribute much of their success to Dominic Contreras, who went 8 of 9 en route to 21 points and three steals, and Kade Johnson, who went 7 for 13 to rack up 25 points and three steals. Johnson's evening made it six games in a row in which he has scored at least 20 points. Another player making a difference was Omari Brown, who went 5 of 7 on his way to 10 points.
Meanwhile, Independence was not able to break out of their rough patch on Thursday as the team picked up their third straight loss. They were beaten by Bakersfield Christian 77-44. While losing is never fun, the Falcons can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' California basketball rankings (they are ranked 546th, while the Eagles are ranked 115th).
Bakersfield is on a roll lately: they've won five of their last six contests, which provided a nice bump to their 19-9 record this season. Those victories came thanks in part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 71.8 points over those games. As for Independence, their defeat dropped their record down to 14-12.
Bakersfield strolled past Independence in their previous meeting back in January by a score of 59-45. Will Bakersfield repeat their success, or does Independence have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
