The El Rancho Dons will head out on the road to challenge the Whittier Cardinals at 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday. El Rancho will be strutting in after a victory while Whittier will be coming in after a defeat.
El Rancho will bounce into Wednesday's contest after beating Santa Fe, who they had gone 2-7 against in their nine prior meetings. El Rancho snuck past Santa Fe with a 39-35 win on Monday. The victory almost wasn't to be: the Dons were down 22-8 in the second quarter.
| 12/29/23 vs La Mirada | 26 |
| 11/22/23 vs Garfield | 20 |
| 11/24/23 vs Huntington Park | 20 |
| 11/25/23 vs Wilson | 20 |
| 02/03/25 @ Santa Fe | 19 |
El Rancho's success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but Emery Riker led the charge by almost dropping a double-double on nine points and 19 rebounds. That's the most boards Riker has posted since back in January of 2024. The team also got some help courtesy of Carissa Basurto, who posted 11 points along with five rebounds and three steals.
Meanwhile, Whittier was within striking distance but couldn't close the gap on Monday as they fell 38-32 to California. While losing is never fun, the Cardinals can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' California basketball rankings (they are ranked 683rd, while the Condors are ranked 331st).
Whittier has traveled a rocky road recently having lost seven of their last eight games, which put a noticeable dent in their 9-16 record this season. As for El Rancho, their record now sits at 19-8.
El Rancho was able to grind out a solid win over Whittier in their previous meeting two weeks ago, winning 37-25. The rematch might be a little tougher for El Rancho since the squad won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
