Preview: West Lafayette Red Devils vs. Lafayette Jefferson Bronchos
The West Lafayette Red Devils will be playing in front of their home fans against the Lafayette Jefferson Bronchos at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday. One thing working in West Lafayette's favor is that they have posted big point totals in their last five contests.
West Lafayette pushed their score all the way to 60 on Thursday, but even that wasn't enough to win. They fell 68-60 to Rensselaer Central. Despite running the score up even higher than they did in their last game on Tuesday (56), West Lafayette still had to take the loss.
The match pitted two dominant guards against one another in Adrianne Tolen and Kamri Rowland. Rowland had a great game and scored 20 points along with seven rebounds and two steals. Meanwhile, Tolen was balling out in the loss, scoring 30 points along with eight rebounds and three steals.
Lafayette Jefferson suffered their biggest loss since November 29, 2023 on Tuesday. They had to suffer through a rough 61-33 loss at the hands of Benton Central. While losing is never fun, Lafayette Jefferson can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Indiana basketball rankings (they are ranked 304th, while Benton Central is ranked 33rd).
Lafayette Jefferson got a good chunk of their points from the dynamic duo of
Amani Byrd and
Shaylee Barrett, who each put up six points. Barrett also led the team in assists with three. She held things down on the boards with five rebounds.
West Lafayette's defeat dropped their record down to 11-8. As for Lafayette Jefferson, they have traveled a rocky road recently, as they've lost five of their last six games, which put a noticeable dent in their 3-14 record this season.
Keep an eye on the arc in Tuesday's game: West Lafayette have made nailing deep shots look easy this year this season, having only averaged 4.4 threes per game. It's a different story for Lafayette Jefferson, though, as they've been averaging only 2 threes per game. Given West Lafayette's sizeable advantage in that area, Lafayette Jefferson will need to find a way to close that gap.
Everything came up roses for West Lafayette against Lafayette Jefferson when the teams last played back in January of 2023 as the team secured a 64-27 win. Does West Lafayette have another victory up their sleeve, or will Lafayette Jefferson turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.
