Preview: South Haven Christian vs. Clarksville Christian
South Haven Christian is 1-6 against Clarksville Christian since November of 2017 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Thursday. South Haven Christian will head out on the road to square off against Clarksville Christian at 4:00 p.m. Both teams come into the matchup bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
Winning is just a little bit easier when you work as a team to rack up 23 more assists than your opponent, a fact South Haven Christian proved on Tuesday. They strolled past Pleasant View Christian with points to spare, taking the game 65-51. The win made it back-to-back wins for South Haven Christian.
It was another big night for Aliya Gagliano, who dropped a double-double on 37 points and 13 rebounds. Gagliano is crushing the rebound category: she's posted at least nine every time she's taken the court this season. Alexis Palmore was another key contributor, scoring eight points along with ten assists and two steals.
Meanwhile, Clarksville Christian waltzed into their matchup on Tuesday with two straight wins but they left with three. They snuck past Tournament Team with a 41-36 victory.
Clarksville Christian's win was a true team effort, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was Lauren Hassell, who scored 18 points along with four blocks. That makes it three consecutive games in which Hassell has scored at least a third of Clarksville Christian's points. The team also got some help courtesy of Marley Spiers, who dropped a double-double on 11 points and 11 rebounds.
South Haven Christian is on a roll lately: they've won three of their last four contests, which provided a nice bump to their 16-11 record this season. As for Clarksville Christian, their win bumped their record up to 14-9.
This contest is one where the number of possessions is likely to be a big factor: South Haven Christian have been smashing the glass this season, having averaged 36.6 rebounds per game. However, it's not like Clarksville Christian struggles in that department as they've been averaging 26 rebounds per game. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
South Haven Christian took a serious blow against Clarksville Christian in their previous matchup back in January, falling 64-29. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Hassell, who scored 22 points along with six rebounds and six steals. Now that South Haven Christian knows the damage she can cause, will they be able to stop her this time? There's only one way to find out.
