Basketball Game Preview: Thornton Wildcats vs. Hillcrest Hawks

The Thornton Wildcats will challenge the Hillcrest Hawks at 5:30 p.m. on Sunday. Thornton is coming into the contest on a three-game losing streak.

Last Friday, Thornton came up short against Bloom and fell 58-49. While losing is never fun, the Wildcats can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Illinois basketball rankings (they are ranked 315th, while the Blazing Trojan are ranked 84th).

Even though the team lost, they still had their share of impressive performances. One of the best came from Greg Fourte, who posted ten points and six rebounds. Those ten points gave him a new career-high. The team also got some help courtesy of Jordan Maple, who earned 11 points.

Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Hillcrest). They took their game on Friday with ease, bagging a 104-34 win over Blue Island Eisenhower. The Hawks have made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won eight matches by 21 points or more this season.

Hillcrest has also been performing well recently as they've won three of their last four contests, which provided a nice bump to their 10-6 record this season. Those victories came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 74.0 points per game. As for Thornton, their defeat dropped their record down to 5-11.