The Apollo Hawks will head out on the road to take on the Basha Bears at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.
Basha will be up against a hot Apollo squad: the team just extended their winning streak to three. Apollo simply couldn't be stopped last Wednesday as they easily beat Camelback 59-21. Given the Hawks' advantage in MaxPreps' Arizona basketball rankings (they are ranked 108th, while the Spartans are ranked 264th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Meliyah Morning
| 02/12/25 vs Camelback | 7 |
| 02/07/25 vs Tolleson | 6 |
| 02/04/25 vs West Point | 6 |
| 01/23/25 @ Tolleson | 6 |
| 01/14/25 vs Boulder Creek | 6 |
Meliyah Morning had a dynamite game for Apollo, going 9-for-19 to rack up 20 points and seven steals. The dominant performance gave Morning a new career-high in steals. Tamiya Gilliam was another key player, putting up five points along with eight boards and six steals.
Apollo smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 19 offensive rebounds. The team's really been improving in that area: they've now improved their offensive board total in three consecutive contests.
Meanwhile, you can't lose the game if you win every quarter, and that was precisely Basha's strategy against Corona del Sol last Wednesday. Given that consistent dominance, it should come as no surprise that Basha blew Corona del Sol out of the water with a 77-30 final score. The game was all but wrapped up at the end of the third, by which point the Bears had established a 43 point advantage.
Basha's win came from a few key players Apollo will need to keep an eye on. One of the most notable was Grace Beckler, who made all 6 shots she took to post 13 points in addition to six rebounds and four steals. She is also on a roll when it comes to shooting accuracy, as she's posted one of at least 50% in the last four games she's played. Another player making a difference was Rylie Sword, who posted 14 points and four steals.
Apollo pushed their record up to 10-8 with the win, which was their fifth straight at home. Those victories came thanks in part to their defensive effort, having only surrendered 26.4 points over those games. As for Basha, they are on a roll lately: they've won three of their last four matchups, which provided a nice bump to their 14-12 record this season.
Rebounding is likely to be a big factor in this contest: Apollo has been smashing the glass this season, having averaged 25.1 boards per game. However, it's not like Basha struggles in that department as they've been averaging 37.2 rebounds. With both teams battling to corral missed shots, we'll see if one team can grab an edge Check MaxPreps after the action for a full breakdown of the game and more basketball content.
