Basketball Game Preview: Wheatley Wildcats vs. Liberty Panthers

A feisty cat fight will be fought when the Wildcats take on the Panthers at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday. Wheatley knows how to get points on the board -- the squad has finished with 55 points or more in their past nine contests -- so hopefully Liberty likes a good challenge.

Wheatley is headed into the matchup after thoroughly thrashing Worthing: they outscored them in every quarter. Given that consistent dominance, it should come as no surprise that Wheatley blew Worthing out of the water with a 74-34 final score. The Wildcats have made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won 18 games by 25 points or more this season.

Jamie Solomon

Points

02/01/25 @ Worthing	34
01/30/25 vs Washington	27
01/27/25 vs Scarborough	30
01/24/25 @ Furr	26
01/17/25 @ Northside	18
+ 4 more games

Jamie Solomon continued her habit of posting crazy stat lines, going 13 of 22 on her way to 34 points and five steals. Her afternoon made it nine games in a row in which she has scored at least 18 points. Another player making a difference was Caria Thomas, who dropped a double-double on 15 points and 11 assists.

Wheatley smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 19 offensive boards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least eight offensive rebounds in 35 consecutive contests dating back to last season.

Meanwhile, Liberty ended up a good deal behind Hamshire-Fannett on Tuesday and lost 53-37.

Wheatley will need to focus on slowing down Bella Elliott, one of several Liberty players who made an impact when they last played. She dropped a double-double on ten points and 16 rebounds. Elliott has been hot recently, having posted 13 or more boards the last three times she's played. The team also got some help courtesy of Bryana Pantallion, who posted nine points in addition to seven rebounds and four steals.

Wheatley is on a roll lately: they've won 14 of their last 15 matchups, which provided a nice bump to their 22-2 record this season. The wins came thanks in part to their defensive effort, having only surrendered 28.9 points over those games. As for Liberty, their loss dropped their record down to 19-12.

Everything came up roses for Wheatley against Liberty in their previous matchup back in February of 2018, as the team secured an 82-41 victory. Will Wheatley repeat their success, or does Liberty have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.