The Atwater Falcons will venture away from home to take on the Los Banos Tigers at 7:15 p.m. on Thursday. Atwater knows how to get points on the board -- the squad has finished with 55 points or more in their past seven matches -- so hopefully Los Banos likes a good challenge.
Atwater is headed in fresh off scoring the most points they have all season. They really took it to Buhach Colony for the full four quarters, racking up a 103-5 win. The Falcons have made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won 12 games by 20 points or more this season.
Andrea Sandoval and Natalia Melgoza were among the main playmakers for Atwater as the former went 9 for 13 on her way to 20 points and six steals and the latter went 7 of 12 en route to 14 points along with eight steals and seven assists. Melgoza continues to improve, besting her previous point total in each of the last three games she's played. The team also got some help courtesy of Karissa Hukill, who posted ten points and four steals.
Atwater smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 21 offensive boards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least ten offensive rebounds in 23 consecutive contests.
Meanwhile, Los Banos played a tough match on Tuesday in which they were outscored in every quarter. They came up short against El Capitan, falling 64-40. While losing is never fun, the Tigers can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' California basketball rankings (they are ranked 310th, while the Gauchos are ranked 132nd).
Atwater has been performing incredibly well recently as they've won 15 of their last 17 games, which provided a nice bump to their 19-4 record this season. The wins came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 69.8 points per game. As for Los Banos, they dropped their record down to 15-6 with the defeat, which was their third straight on the road.
Everything came up roses for Atwater against Los Banos in their previous meeting on January 14th, as the team secured an 80-41 victory. In that contest, Atwater amassed a halftime lead of 43-16, an impressive feat they'll look to repeat on Thursday.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
