Basketball Game Preview: Thunderbird Titans vs. Youngker Roughriders

The Thunderbird Titans will challenge the Youngker Roughriders at 7:00 p.m. on Monday. The two teams are sauntering into the matchup backed by comfortable wins in their prior games.

Thunderbird took a loss when they played away from home on Tuesday, but their home fans gave them all the motivation they needed on Thursday. They breezed by Goldwater to the tune of 66-11. The match was pretty much decided by the half, when the score had already reached 42-2.

Thunderbird found their leader in sophomore Roscella Tsosie, who went 9 for 13 on her way to 21 points and seven steals. As a matter of fact, that's the most points Tsosie has scored all season. Gianna Molina was another key player, putting up seven points and four steals.

Meanwhile, Youngker had already won two in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 31.5 points) and they went ahead and made it three on Thursday. They blew past the Rattlers 55-24. The Roughriders have made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won seven games by 23 points or more this season.

Thunderbird better keep an eye on Ashlee Gonzalez. She was instrumental in Youngker's win, posting 26 points. That makes it four consecutive games in which Gonzalez has scored at least a third of Youngker's points. The team also got some help courtesy of Naomi Copeland, who posted eight points.

Youngker's victory was their third straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 10-6. Those victories came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 56.3 points per game. As for Thunderbird, the win got them back to even at 8-8.

Thunderbird took their victory against Youngker in their previous matchup back in November of 2014 by a conclusive 58-35. Will Thunderbird repeat their success, or does Youngker have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.