Basketball Game Preview: Patterson Tigers vs. Central Catholic Raiders

The Patterson Tigers will challenge the Central Catholic Raiders at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday. The timing is sure in Patterson's favor as the squad sits on seven straight wins at home while Central Catholic has been banged up by nine consecutive losses on the road dating back to last season.

Patterson is headed in fresh off scoring the most points they have all season. They snuck past Sierra with a 63-57 victory on Thursday. Given the Tigers' advantage in MaxPreps' California basketball rankings (they are ranked 123rd, while the Timberwolves are ranked 520th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

Patterson's success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but Alyse Lomeli led the charge by dropping a double-double on ten points and 13 boards. The dominant performance also gave Lomeli a new career-high in blocks (two). Kailani Ortiz was another key player, going 7 for 13 on her way to 18 points in addition to five boards and five steals.

Patterson smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 13 offensive boards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least 13 offensive rebounds in four consecutive matches.

Meanwhile, Central Catholic played a tough contest on Thursday in which they were outscored in every quarter. 2025 welcomed they with a 55-34 loss courtesy of Los Banos. The Raiders were down 48-20 at the end of the third quarter, which was just too much to recover from.

Central Catholic's defeat dropped their record down to 5-7. As for Patterson, their win bumped their record up to 15-2.

Patterson strolled past Central Catholic in their previous meeting back in December of 2022 by a score of 42-27. Does Patterson have another victory up their sleeve, or will Central Catholic turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.