Basketball Heads Into Rivalry Games

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This year the league for basketball has been intensified with incredible opponents to play with key players and rivalries between teams.

This week proves to be an eventful one for not only the varsity boys but all levels of Thunder basketball. All teams start league against Woodcreek Tuesday and Wednesday, and shortly after face the longtime rival, Del Oro Eagles. However the week does not end there; on Saturday all basketball teams play Oak Ridge in their 3rd league game.

Playing Del Oro on Friday and Oak Ridge on Saturday, the Rocklin Thunder basketball teams have to face 2 diverse and elite teams in a short time span.

“Playing 2 games in 2 days isn’t really a challenge; its something we have done before in tournaments and done well in the past” says Evan Gustafson, a varsity basketball player

Lauren Clark felt similar to Evan about the varsity girls having 2 games in 24 hours, “It’s more of a positive than negative because we can only get so much better just practicing and playing against each other. It’s beneficial to us to play other teams and learn to adjust with more experience.”

While the Varsity boys have already played Del Oro in a tournament and won with a score of 84-79. This will be most of the teams first time facing Del Oro this year.

“We’re confident knowing we already beat them but cautious because they know our strengths and will be really pumped up to beat us this time around” says senior Keyshon WIlliams.

Del Oro is one of the league’s top teams that continues to prove to be a tough opponent for the Thunder to face in all high school sports.

“We are preparing for the Del Oro game by watching film about their play and certain players. Because they are a tall team unlike us, we need to channel our strengths like our speed,” adds Lauren Clark.

However shortly after facing the elite eagles Friday night all of the teams play Oak Ridge on Saturday with little time to rest and recover.

“It’s just another game, all we need to do is play hard and I’m confident we can get that win both games” adds Evan Gustafson

Varsity Captain Lauren Clark adds, “It think its beneficial; games help us improve in a way that practice can’t. We will be more focused and more prepared having just recently played an uptempo game against a good team.”

Starting with the Freshman girls 10 am the Rocklin Thunder gym will be filled with excitement and action all through Saturday ending with the varsity boys at 5:30.