The Los Banos Tigers will take on the Atwater Falcons at 7:15 p.m. on Thursday.
Los Banos is headed into the contest out to prove that what happened against El Capitan on Tuesday (when they were outscored in every quarter) was just a minor bump in the road. Los Banos lost 64-40 to El Capitan. While losing is never fun, the Tigers can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' California basketball rankings (they are ranked 310th, while the Gauchos are ranked 132nd).
Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Atwater). They claimed a resounding 103-5 victory over Buhach Colony. The win was nothing new for the Falcons as they're now sitting on seven straight.
Los Banos better focus on containing Andrea Sandoval and Natalia Melgoza as the pair were huge in Atwater's win. Sandoval went 9 for 13 on her way to 20 points and six steals, while Melgoza went 7 of 12 en route to 14 points along with eight steals and seven assists. The dominant performance gave Melgoza a new career-high in steals. The team also got some help courtesy of Karissa Hukill, who posted ten points and four steals.
Atwater smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 21 offensive boards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least ten offensive rebounds in 23 consecutive games.
Atwater is on a roll lately: they've won 15 of their last 17 matchups, which provided a nice bump to their 19-4 record this season. The wins came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 69.8 points per game. As for Los Banos, their loss was their third straight on the road, which dropped their record down to 15-6.
Los Banos was taken down by Atwater 80-41 in their previous meeting on January 14th. That contest was all but decided by halftime, at which point Los Banos was down 43-16.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
