Volcano Vista vs Sandia Preview

Both the Volcano Vista Hawks and the Sandia Matadors have enjoyed some early success to start this high school basketball season. Volcano Vista the defending 2021 5A state champions take on a young up and coming Sandia team this Saturday December 11th at 2:30 pm. The Sandia Matadors girls basketball team has started this season at a undefeated 4-0 record. Over the course of last week they defeated Cibola on the road 68-42 Tuesday November 30th, they won 43-34 at home vs Mayfield Friday December 3rd, they won their 3rd straight game 42-25 vs Los Lunas and defeated Atrisco Heritage 45-36 Wednesday December 8th to head into this weekend vs Volcano Vista at 4-0. Sandia has a young team mixed with a few seniors. Their top three leading scorers so far is all freshman. Freshman Sydney Benally leads the team in scoring with 16.6 points per game, also gives you 6.5 rebounds per game and 4.5 steals per game. Freshman Audriana Wright is also giving you 12.0 points per game, 9 rebounds per game and 3 steals per game. Their 3rd leading scorer is freshman Hope Giddings who is also averaging 12.0 points per game and 6 rebounds per game. Senior [player_tooltip player_id="353766" first="Mariah" last="Maes"] is also one of the top players on this team and has a lot of experience on this varsity program. She is a 4 year varsity player and is currently averaging around 9 points per game. This Sandia has a lot of young talent and their is no better way to improve as a team than to play the defending state champions from last season this weekend. The defending state champions had a solid opening week last week to begin their title defense for this season. They started their season on the road Tuesday November 30th vs a really hood La Cueva team and defeated them 75-49. In their next game this past Tuesday November 7th, they defeated Eldorado at home in another blowout win 74-37 to improve to 2-0 this season. Before their matchup with Sandia this Saturday December 11th, they will face-off with Albuquerque High School Wednesday December 9th with hopes of heading into this weekend vs Sandia at 3-0. The Volcano Vista Hawks are led by future New Mexico Lobo [player_tooltip player_id="353694" first="Natalia" last="Chavez"]. Through the first two games of the season shes averaging 25.5 points per game and 7.0 rebounds per game. Teammate [player_tooltip player_id="353693" first="Jaelyn" last="Bates"] is also a  future New Mexico Lobo and has a great game with her shooting, passing and anticipation on defense averaging 5 steals per game this season. Their starting center [player_tooltip player_id="357657" first="Taejhuan" last="Hill"] is also having a nice season so far averaging 14.5 points per game and 8.0 rebounds per game. Hill is showcasing why she is one of the top centers in the game of New Mexico. [player_tooltip player_id="353903" first="Angelyn" last="Aranda"] is also a key contributor averaging 9 points per game and will be a huge factor with [player_tooltip player_id="357657" first="Taejhuan" last="Hill"] playing some good defense against Sandia’s players. [player_tooltip player_id="353770" first="Kennedy" last="Brown"] will also make a huge presence in this game doing all of the little things to help this team win games and is currently averaging 4 steals per game and is one of the op defensive guards in the state.