Vela is 9-1 against the Diamondbacks since January of 2015, and they'll have a chance to extend that success on Friday. The Vela Sabercats will head out on the road to face off against the Pioneer Diamondbacks at 6:00 p.m. Vela is looking to tack on another W to their 23-game streak on the road dating back to last season.
Vela stacked a 14th blowout win onto their ever-increasing hoard on Tuesday. They blew past McAllen 54-30. Given Vela's advantage in MaxPreps' Texas basketball rankings (they are ranked 289th, while the Bulldogs are ranked 616th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Vela's success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but Janai Coleman led the charge by dropping a double-double on 16 points and 11 rebounds. Coleman has been hot recently, having posted 15 or more points the last five times she's played. Another player making a difference was Gg Betancourt, who scored 14 points along with five assists.
Meanwhile, Pioneer had already won four in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 9 points), and they went ahead and made it five on Tuesday. They blew past Pharr-San Juan-Alamo Southwest, posting a 58-18 win on the road. Pioneer has made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won 15 matches by 22 points or more this season.
Vela has been performing incredibly well recently as they've won 21 of their last 23 matchups, which provided a nice bump to their 28-5 record this season. As for Pioneer, their victory bumped their record up to 24-9.
Vela opened the new year with a less-than-successful 55-43 loss to the Diamondbacks. Can Vela avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
