The Horizon Hawks will look to defend their home court on Friday against the Monarch Coyotes at 7:00 p.m. Both teams are coming into the matchup red-hot, with Horizon sitting on six straight victories and Monarch on five.
Horizon posted their biggest victory yet this season on Tuesday. They really took it to Loveland for the full four quarters, racking up a 74-20 win at home. With Horizon ahead 36-9 at the half, the contest was all but over already.
Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead Horizon to victory, but perhaps none more so than Morgan Ives, who scored 17 points along with five rebounds and five steals. The team also got some help courtesy of Madyn Kassatly, who scored 13 points along with five steals.
Meanwhile, winning is just a little bit easier when you work as a team to rack up 12 more assists than your opponent, a fact Monarch proved on Tuesday. They managed a 47-43 win over Fort Collins.
The match pitted two key players against one another: Sienna Williams and Avery Alcaraz. Williams had a great game and almost dropped a triple-double on 12 points, 11 rebounds, and nine blocks. Meanwhile, Alcaraz was balling out in the loss, scoring 20 points.
Horizon pushed their record up to 13-2 with that win, which was their tenth straight at home. Those victories were due in large part to their offensive dominance across that stretch, as they averaged 59.7 points per game. As for Monarch, they now have a winning record of 7-6.
This contest is one where the number of possessions is likely to be a big factor: Horizon have been smashing the glass this season, having averaged 31 rebounds per game. However, it's not like Monarch struggles in that department as they've been averaging 27.7 rebounds per game. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
Horizon was taken down by Monarch 62-33 in their previous matchup back in January of 2023. Thankfully for Horizon, Caroline Walley (who dropped a double-double on 19 points and 17 rebounds) won't be suiting up this time. Will that be enough to change the final result? There's only one way to find out.
