Basketball Game Preview: Pyramid Lake Lakers vs. Smith Valley Bulldogs

Pyramid Lake and Smith Valley are an even 5-5 against one another since February of 2017, but not for long. The Pyramid Lake Lakers will challenge the Smith Valley Bulldogs at 6:00 p.m. on Thursday. Both teams are coming into the match red-hot, with Pyramid Lake sitting on 11 straight victories and Smith Valley on six.

Pyramid Lake is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of Nevada's top teams: North Valleys, who was ranked seventh at the time (Pyramid Lake was ranked 18th). Pyramid Lake secured a 57-51 W over North Valleys on Monday.

Kaitlin Mandell continued her habit of posting crazy stat lines, going 6 for 10 from beyond the arc on her way to 20 points and five steals. She has been hot, having posted two or more steals the last seven times she's played. The team also got some help courtesy of Olivia Lara, who went 5 of 7 en route to 11 points.

Meanwhile, everything came up roses for Smith Valley against Sierra Sage Academy/Right Of Passage on Wednesday as the team secured a 50-15 win. The Bulldogs have made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won eight games by 21 points or more this season.

Pyramid Lake pushed their record up to 20-5 with the victory, which was their 14th straight at home dating back to last season. The wins came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 64.3 points per game. As for Smith Valley, they have been performing well recently as they've won nine of their last 11 contests, which provided a nice bump to their 14-6 record this season.

Everything came up roses for Pyramid Lake against Smith Valley when the teams last played back in January, as the squad secured a 69-9 win. In that matchup, Pyramid Lake amassed a halftime lead of 40-8, an impressive feat they'll look to repeat on Thursday.