Mountain Range is 1-9 against the Lambkins since January of 2015 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Friday. The Mountain Range Mustangs are on the road again and plays the Fort Collins Lambkins at 6:30 p.m. on February 2nd. Mountain Range will have to bring their A-game into this one, as they are staring down a pretty big deficit in the MaxPreps Colorado Rankings (they are ranked 197th, while the Lambkins are ranked 17th).
Last Tuesday, Mountain Range lost to the Lightning on the road by a decisive 60-43 margin. The defeat unfortunately continues a disappointing trend for Mountain Range in their matchups with the Lightning: they've now lost three in a row.
Despite the loss, Mountain Range had strong showings from Camila Jimenez, who scored 17 points along with seven rebounds, and Delilah Lucero, who scored 14 points along with five rebounds. As a matter of fact, that's the most points Jimenez has scored all season. The team also got some help courtesy of Daxton Almeida, who scored two points along with nine rebounds and two steals.
Meanwhile, Fort Collins had already won two in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 25.5 points), and they went ahead and made it three on Tuesday. They took down Fossil Ridge 65-50. 65 seems to be a good number for Fort Collins as the squad scooped up a victory with the same number of points in their previous game.
Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead Fort Collins to victory, but perhaps none more so than Avery Alcaraz, who scored 17 points along with two steals. Another player making a difference was Jocelyn Kramar, who scored ten points along with six rebounds and two steals.
Mountain Range has not been sharp recently as the team's lost seven of their last eight matches, which put a noticeable dent in their 6-10 record this season. As for Fort Collins, their victory was their seventh straight at home, which pushed their record up to 14-3.
This contest is one where the number of possessions is likely to be a big factor: Mountain Range have been smashing the glass this season, having averaged 32 rebounds per game. However, it's not like Fort Collins struggles in that department as they've been averaging 28.1 rebounds per game. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
Mountain Range ended up a good deal behind the Lambkins in their previous meeting back in February of 2023, losing 43-25. Can Mountain Range avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
