Basketball Game Preview: Ralston Valley Mustangs vs. Arvada West Wildcats

Ralston Valley has gone 9-1 against Arvada West recently and they'll look to pad the win column further on Saturday. The Ralston Valley Mustangs will welcome the Arvada West Wildcats at 1:30 p.m. Ralston Valley is strutting in with some offensive muscle as they've averaged 53.4 points per game this season.

Ralston Valley is headed into the contest after thoroughly thrashing Evergreen: they outscored them in every quarter. Given that consistent dominance, it should come as no surprise that Ralston Valley blew Evergreen out of the water with a 72-39 final score. Given the Mustangs' advantage in MaxPreps' Colorado basketball rankings (they are ranked 24th, while the Cougars are ranked 137th), the result on Tuesday wasn't entirely unexpected.

Ralston Valley found their leader in sophomore Santana Sabus, who went 8 of 13 on her way to 20 points in addition to eight boards and five steals. Sabus is on a roll when it comes to steals, as she's now grabbed three or more in the last three games she's played. Evi Morwood was another key player, putting up 11 points and five assists.

Ralston Valley was working as a unit and finished the game with 22 assists. That's the most assists they've posted since back in December of 2023.

Meanwhile, Arvada West hadn't done well against Chatfield recently (they were 1-8 in their previous nine matchups), but they didn't let the past get in their way on Wednesday. Arvada West came out on top in a nail-biter against Chatfield, sneaking past 54-51.

Arvada West pushed their record up to 13-2 with the win, which was their seventh straight on the road. Those victories came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 54.4 points per game. As for Ralston Valley, the victory made it two in a row for them and bumps their season record up to 10-6.

Ralston Valley took their win against Arvada West in their previous matchup back in February of 2024 by a conclusive 58-36. In that match, Ralston Valley amassed a halftime lead of 43-16, an impressive feat they'll look to repeat on Saturday.