Two dominant guards in Amayah Leyva and Xxylina Flores are getting ready to go toe-to-toe. The Buckeye Hawks will take on the North Mustangs at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.
Last Thursday, everything went Buckeye's way against Desert Edge as Buckeye made off with a 56-32 victory. Given the Hawks' advantage in MaxPreps' Arizona basketball rankings (they are ranked 101st, while the Scorpions are ranked 227th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
| 01/18/24 vs Independence | 33 |
| 01/09/25 vs Desert Edge | 28 |
| 12/29/23 vs Cactus Shadows | 26 |
| 01/16/24 vs Copper Canyon | 26 |
| 02/02/24 @ Copper Canyon | 25 |
Leyva continued her habit of posting crazy stat lines, dropping a double-double on 28 points and ten steals. That's the most points she has posted since back in January of 2024. Tia Chapman was another key player, putting up eight points along with nine rebounds and five steals.
Meanwhile, North entered their tilt with Fairfax on Thursday with two consecutive wins but they'll enter their next game with three. They breezed by the Stampede to the tune of 66-32. With the Mustangs ahead 44-19 at the half, the contest was all but over already.
North found their leader in sophomore Flores, who went 9 of 21 on her way to 22 points and five assists. Flores' evening made it three games in a row in which she has scored at least ten points. The team also got some help courtesy of Esefani Brunson, who posted 15 points and three steals.
North smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 15 offensive rebounds. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least 15 offensive boards in three consecutive games.
North's win was their tenth straight at home dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 14-3. The wins came thanks to their defensive effort, having only surrendered 22.2 points per game. As for Buckeye, they are on a roll lately: they've won five of their last six matches, which provided a nice bump to their 10-7 record this season.
Rebounding is likely to be a big factor in this contest: Buckeye has crashing the boards this season, having averaged 30.3 rebounds per game. However, it's not like North struggles in that department as they've been averaging 40.6 boards. With both teams battling to corral missed shots, we'll see if one team can grab an edge Come back here after the game to get an analysis of the match and other basketball content.
