Arvada West is 2-8 against Ralston Valley since February of 2018 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Friday. The Arvada West Wildcats will be playing in front of their home fans against the Ralston Valley Mustangs at 5:30 p.m. The teams are on pretty different trajectories at the moment (Arvada West has four straight victories, Ralston Valley has three straight losses), but none of that matters once you're on the court.
If Arvada West beats Ralston Valley with 55 points on Friday, it's going to be the squad's new lucky number: they've won their past two contests with that exact score. Arvada West enjoyed a cozy 55-39 win over Chatfield on Wednesday. Given the Wildcats' advantage in MaxPreps' Colorado basketball rankings (they are ranked 15th, while the Chargers are ranked 69th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Meanwhile, Ralston Valley was within striking distance but couldn't close the gap on Thursday as they fell 51-47 to Columbine. While the Mustangs didn't get the win, they did start the game off strong, beating the Rebels 16-11 in the first quarter.
Despite the defeat, Ralston Valley saw an underclassman step up: sophomore Santana Sabus dropped a double-double with 14 points and ten rebounds. Sabus is becoming a predictor of Ralston Valley's success: when she posts at least ten boards the team is 6-2 (and 6-8 when she doesn't). The team also got some help courtesy of Mia Alfaro, who posted nine points.
Even though they lost, Ralston Valley was working as a unit and finished the game with 13 assists. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Columbine only racked up seven assists.
Arvada West pushed their record up to 19-3 with the victory, which was their third straight at home. The wins came thanks in part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 53.7 points over those games. As for Ralston Valley, their loss dropped their record down to 12-10.
Arvada West strolled past Ralston Valley in their previous meeting on February 1st by a score of 56-37. Will Arvada West repeat their success, or does Ralston Valley have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
