The Templeton Eagles will head out to challenge the Shafter Generals at 6:00 p.m. on Friday. Expect the scorekeeper to be kept busy: if their previous games are any indication, the two teams will really light up the scoreboard.
Templeton is headed in fresh off scoring the most points they have all season. They walked away with a 66-53 victory over Santa Ynez on Tuesday. The win made it back-to-back victories for the Eagles.
Meanwhile, Shafter came tearing into Tuesday's contest with ten straight wins (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 43.7 points) and they left with even more momentum. They claimed a resounding 75-29 win over the Tigers. Given the Generals' advantage in MaxPreps' California basketball rankings (they are ranked 250th, while the Tigers are ranked 1035th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Shafter's win came from a few key players Templeton will need to keep an eye on. One of the most notable was Alexia Ramirez, who dropped a double-double with 14 points and 15 rebounds. She has been hot for a while, having also posted two or more steals the last 11 times she's played. Another player making a difference was Isela Lugo, who went 7-for-13 to rack up 18 points and five steals.
Shafter was working as a unit and finished the game with 22 assists. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Wasco only posted six assists.
Shafter pushed their record up to 22-5 with the victory, which was their eighth straight on the road. Those victories came thanks in part to their defensive effort, having only surrendered 25.3 points over those games. As for Templeton, the win got them back to even at 13-13.
Templeton might still be hurting after the 45-24 defeat they got from Shafter when the teams last played back in December of 2024. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Lugo, who went 8-for-17 en route to 24 points along with eight boards and three steals. Now that Templeton knows the damage she can cause, will they be able to stop her this time? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
