| 12/19/24 - Home | 44-35 W |
| 12/14/23 - Away | 53-27 W |
| 12/12/17 - Away | 52-12 W |
| 12/13/16 - Home | 74-11 W |
| 01/12/16 - Away | 42-24 W |
Central Valley has gone a perfect 5-0 against Elba recently and they'll look to pad the win column further on Thursday. The Cougars will take on the Bluejays in a holiday battle at 6:00 p.m. Neither of those teams managed to put together many points in their previous contests, so the offenses might be a little more motivated than usual.
Central Valley is headed into the game out to prove that what happened against Centura on Tuesday (when they were outscored in every quarter) was just a minor bump in the road. The Cougars were dealt a 60-14 loss at the hands of the Centurions. The contest marked the Cougars' lowest-scoring matchup so far this season.
Even though the team lost, they still had their share of impressive performances. One of the best came from Bentleigh Dugan, who posted 11 points. Annaka Wood also deserves some recognition as she posted her first block of the season.
Meanwhile, Elba came up short against Silver Lake on Friday and fell 35-24. The Bluejays have struggled against the Mustangs recently, as the game was their ninth consecutive lost matchup.
Central Valley will have to keep a close watch on JarahLynn Morrow and Addison Wysocki, a pair of players who had a big impact on Elba's prior game. Morrow had five points and six rebounds, while Wysocki dropped a double-double with 14 points and ten boards. That was a full 58.3% of Elba's points, marking the third time in a row Wysocki has earned more than a third of the team's points.
Having lost for the first time this season, Central Valley fell to 4-1. As for Elba, their defeat was their first of the season and makes their record 2-1.
Rebounding is likely to be a big factor in this contest: Central Valley has been smashing the glass this season, having averaged 27.6 rebounds per game. However, it's not like Elba struggles in that department as they've been averaging 31.7 boards. With both teams battling to corral missed shots, we'll see if one team can grab an edge.
Central Valley beat Elba 44-35 in their previous matchup back in December of 2024. The rematch might be a little tougher for the Cougars since the squad won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
