The Pioneer Valley Panthers will head out on the road to face off against the Santa Ynez Pirates at 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday. Given that the pair suffered a loss in their last game, they both have a little extra motivation heading into this match.
Pioneer Valley pushed their score all the way to 62 on Friday, but even that wasn't enough to win. They took a 70-62 hit to the loss column at the hands of Santa Maria. Despite running the score up even higher than they did in their prior game on Tuesday (57), Pioneer Valley still had to take the loss.
Despite their defeat, Pioneer Valley saw several players rise to the challenge and make noteworthy plays. Elias Giddings, who scored 21 points along with six rebounds and two steals, was perhaps the best of all. Giddings is trending in the right direction, as he's improved his point production for three games straight. Another player making a difference was Inderveer Toor, who dropped a double-double on 17 points and 15 rebounds.
Meanwhile, Santa Ynez's recent rough patch got a bit rougher on Friday after their fifth straight loss. They fell 66-55 to San Luis Obispo. Having run the score up that high, both teams might be doing some extra defensive drills very soon.
This is the second loss in a row for Pioneer Valley and nudges their season record down to 11-16. As for Santa Ynez, they dropped their record down to 11-17 with that defeat, which was their fifth straight on the road.
Pioneer Valley was able to grind out a solid victory over Santa Ynez when the teams last played back in December of 2021, winning 64-55. Will Pioneer Valley repeat their success, or does Santa Ynez have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
