Basketball Game Preview: Ventura Cougars vs. Santa Barbara Dons

Ventura is 8-2 against Santa Barbara since January of 2018 and they'll have a chance to extend that success on Saturday. The Ventura Cougars will take on the Santa Barbara Dons at 4:00 p.m. The teams are on pretty different trajectories at the moment (Ventura has 24 straight wins, Santa Barbara has eight straight losses), but none of that matters once you're on the court.

If Ventura beats Santa Barbara with 76 points on Saturday, it's going to be the team's new lucky number: they've won their past two matchups with that exact score. Ventura took their contest on Thursday with ease, bagging a 76-20 victory over Rio Mesa. The Cougars have made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won 15 games by 22 points or more this season.

Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead Ventura to victory, but perhaps none more so than Kailee Staniland, who dropped a double-double on 17 points and 14 assists. Those 14 assists gave Staniland a new career-high. The team also got some help courtesy of Brinley Anderson, who posted 19 points in addition to seven rebounds and three steals.

Meanwhile, Santa Barbara had to suffer through a 56-25 loss at the hands of Oxnard. While losing is never fun, the Dons can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' California basketball rankings (they are ranked 805th, while the Yellowjackets are ranked 89th).

Ventura pushed their record up to 25-2 with the win, which was their 12th straight on the road. The wins came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 64.2 points per game. As for Santa Barbara, their defeat dropped their record down to 2-19.

Everything came up roses for Ventura against Santa Barbara in their previous meeting back in January, as the squad secured an 82-7 victory. In that matchup, Ventura amassed a halftime lead of 43-3, an impressive feat they'll look to repeat on Saturday.