Preview: Normal Community Ironmen vs. Normal West Wildcats
The Normal Community Ironmen will head out on the road to face off against the Normal West Wildcats at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Hopefully Normal Community is not getting complacent considering they own a much higher rank in Illinois (they are ranked 14th, while Normal West is ranked 207th).
Last Saturday, Normal Community sure made it a nail-biter, but they managed to escape with a 31-29 win over Moline. Despite the victory, that was the fewest points Normal Community has scored all season.
Meanwhile, Normal West had already won three in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 13.3 points), and they went ahead and made it four on Tuesday. They snuck past Bloomington with a 45-39 win.
Normal West can attribute much of their success to Taylor Hafermann, who dropped a double-double on 11 points and 13 rebounds. The team also got some help courtesy of Nate Moore, who scored 13 points along with two steals.
Normal Community pushed their record up to 25-5 with that victory, which was their 11th straight at home dating back to last season. Those good results were due in large part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 61.0 points per game. As for Normal West, their victory ended a six-game drought on the road dating back to last season and puts them at 11-17.
Normal Community came out on top in a nail-biter against Normal West in their previous meeting back in November of 2023, sneaking past 57-54. Will Normal Community repeat their success, or does Normal West have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
