Having just played yesterday, the Bellevue West Thunderbirds will head out on the road to face off against the Millard West Wildcats at 5:30 p.m. on Friday. Both teams are coming into the match red-hot, with Bellevue West sitting on four straight wins and Millard West on 15.
On Thursday, Bellevue West earned a 55-43 victory over Lee's Summit West.
| 01/30/25 vs Lee's Summit West | 18 |
| 12/21/24 @ Elkhorn South | 16 |
| 01/25/25 vs Lincoln Southeast | 14 |
| 01/10/25 @ Lincoln | 14 |
| 12/17/24 vs Park Hill South | 13 |
Bellevue West relied on the efforts of Yirah Sears, who went 7 for 14 on her way to 18 points in addition to seven boards and five assists, and Stevie Harley, who dropped a double-double on 12 points and 11 rebounds. Those 18 points gave Sears a new career-high. Jaycee Woodard was another key player, putting up nine points.
Bellevue West smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 15 offensive boards. That's the most offensive rebounds they've managed all season.
Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Millard West). They breezed by Elkhorn South to the tune of 75-35 on Tuesday. The Wildcats have made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won 11 contests by 20 points or more this season.
Millard West's win came from a few key players Bellevue West will need to keep an eye on. One of the most notable was Kylee Paben, who almost dropped a double-double on 17 points and nine rebounds. She is also on a roll when it comes to steals, as she's now grabbed two or more in the last three games she's played. Another player making a difference was Norah Gessert, who went 5 of 9 en route to 12 points and six assists.
Millard West pushed their record up to 17-1 with the win, which was their fifth straight on the road. They've dominated over that stretch too, winning by an average of 26.2 points. As for Bellevue West, they have been performing incredibly well recently as they've won six of their last seven games, which provided a massive bump to their 10-6 record this season.
Some high-performance offense is likely on the agenda as Bellevue West and Millard West are some of the highest scoring teams in the league. Bellevue West hasn't had any problem running up the score this season, having averaged 58.1 points per game. However, it's not like Millard West struggles in that department as they've been averaging 60.3 points. With both teams so easily able to put up points, the only question left is who can run the score up higher.
Bellevue West couldn't quite finish off Millard West in their previous meeting back in March of 2024 and fell 58-55. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Millard West's Neleigh Gessert, who went 10 for 18 on her way to 29 points and six boards. Now that Bellevue West knows the damage she can cause, will they be able to stop her this time? There's only one way to find out.
