Preview: McDonald County Mustangs vs. Joplin Eagles
The McDonald County Mustangs will head out on the road to take on the Joplin Eagles at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday. Joplin took a loss in their last contest and will be looking to turn the tables on McDonald County, who comes in off a win.
McDonald County has not done well against Aurora recently (they were 1-8 in their previous nine matchups), but they didn't let the past get in their way on Tuesday. McDonald County walked away with a 59-52 victory over Aurora. The win was just what McDonald County needed coming off of a 54-34 defeat in their prior matchup.
Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead McDonald County to victory, but perhaps none more so than Dakota O'brien, who dropped a double-double on 20 points and 18 rebounds. Another player making a difference was Carlie Martin, who scored 12 points along with eight assists and six blocks.
Meanwhile, Joplin was not able to break out of their rough patch on Thursday as the team picked up their fifth straight defeat. They had to suffer through a rough 61-26 loss at the hands of Branson. While losing is never fun, Joplin can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Missouri basketball rankings (they are ranked 352nd, while Branson is ranked 113th).
McDonald County is on a roll lately: they've won 12 of their last 14 matchups, which provided a nice bump to their 20-7 record this season. As for Joplin, their loss dropped their record down to 4-16.
McDonald County didn't have too much breathing room in their game against Joplin when the teams last played back in February of 2023, but they still walked away with a 54-49 win. The rematch might be a little tougher for McDonald County since the team won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
