Basketball Game Preview: Loogootee Lions vs. Northeast Dubois Jeeps

Loogootee and Northeast Dubois are an even 5-5 against one another since January of 2015, but not for long. The Loogootee Lions are taking a road trip to square off against the Northeast Dubois Jeeps at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday.

Last Saturday, Loogootee had to suffer through a 61-32 loss at the hands of Wood Memorial. While losing is never fun, the Lions can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Indiana basketball rankings (they are ranked 270th, while the Trojans are ranked 126th).

Despite the defeat, Loogootee saw an underclassman step up: sophomore Alaina Diamond dropped a double-double on 14 points and 15 rebounds. The team also got some help courtesy of Madison Waggner, who posted six points.

Meanwhile, Northeast Dubois had already won two in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 29.5 points) and they went ahead and made it three on Monday. They came out on top against the Rangers by a score of 44-35.

Loogootee better keep an eye on Lyllee Schnell. She was instrumental in Northeast Dubois' win, going 5 for 8 en route to 15 points and eight boards. Schnell is trending in the right direction considering she's improved her point production for three straight games. Another player making a difference was Emmersen Kalb, who had 18 points.

Northeast Dubois has been performing well recently as they've won four of their last five games, which provided a nice bump to their 11-6 record this season. Those victories came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 51.8 points per game. As for Loogootee, this is the second loss in a row for them and nudges their season record down to 7-9.

Loogootee came up short against Northeast Dubois when the teams last played back in January of 2024, falling 40-36. Can Loogootee avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.