Preview: Winside Wildcats vs. Cedar Bluffs Wildcats
Winside and Cedar Bluffs are an even 4-4 against one another since February of 2015, but not for long. The Winside Wildcats will head out on the road to square off against the Cedar Bluffs Wildcats at 6:00 p.m. on Thursday. Winside is no doubt hoping to put an end to a three-game streak of away losses.
Winside struggled with offensive rebounds on Friday (Pender had 14 more) and sadly the final score reflected it. Winside took a 60-51 hit to the loss column at the hands of Pender. While losing is never fun, Winside can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Nebraska basketball rankings (they are ranked 238th, while Pender is ranked 106th).
Despite the defeat, Winside saw an underclassman step up: Gavin Schutt scored 21 points along with five rebounds. As a matter of fact, that's the most points Schutt has scored all season. Another player making a difference was Kaden Hunt, who scored 15 points along with seven rebounds and two blocks.
Even though they lost, Winside were working as a unit and finished the game with 16 assists. That's the most assists they've managed all season.
Meanwhile, Cedar Bluffs' game on Thursday was all tied up 24-24 at the half, but sadly for them it didn't stay that way. They fell 64-53 to Heartland Christian. Cedar Bluffs has not had much luck with Heartland Christian recently, as the team's come up short the last six times they've met.
The losing side was boosted by Mason Christensen, who scored 17 points along with five rebounds and two steals. The team also got some help courtesy of Jacob Ishmiel, who scored eight points along with 12 rebounds.
Winside's loss ended a three-game streak of wins at home and dropped them to 7-11. As for Cedar Bluffs, they have traveled a rocky road recently having lost 11 of their last 13 matches, which put a noticeable dent in their 4-16 record this season.
Keep an eye on the arc in Thursday's match: Winside have been dynamite from deep this season, having made 37.7% of their threes per game. It's a different story for Cedar Bluffs, though, as they've only made 26.7% of their threes this season. Given Winside's sizable advantage in that area, Cedar Bluffs will need to find a way to close that gap.
Winside didn't have too much breathing room in their match against Cedar Bluffs in their previous meeting back in February of 2022, but they still walked away with a 41-35 victory. Does Winside have another victory up their sleeve, or will Cedar Bluffs turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.
