The Eastern Hancock Royals will take on the Indianapolis Scecina Memorial Crusaders at 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday. Eastern Hancock is strutting in with some offensive muscle as they've averaged 60.6 points per game this season.
Eastern Hancock is probably headed into the contest with a chip on their shoulder considering Tri just ended the team's seven-game winning streak on Thursday. They fell 64-54 to the Titans.
Despite the loss, Eastern Hancock saw an underclassman step up: sophomore McKenzie Koch posted 29 points. That was a full 53.7% of Eastern Hancock's points, marking the ninth time in a row she's earned more than a third of the team's points. The team also got some help courtesy of Bella Sotelo, who scored 11 points and seven steals.
Even though they lost, Eastern Hancock smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with ten offensive rebounds. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least eight offensive boards in five consecutive matchups.
Meanwhile, Indianapolis Scecina Memorial played a tough game on Thursday in which they were outscored in every quarter. They came up short against Monrovia, falling 67-43. While losing is never fun, the Crusaders can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Indiana basketball rankings (they are ranked 278th, while the Bulldogs are ranked 132nd).
Eastern Hancock will have to keep a close watch on Kaila Leath and Ainsley Brown, a pair of players who had a big impact on Indianapolis Scecina Memorial's prior game. Leath almost dropped a double-double on 16 points and nine rebounds, while Brown went 7 of 16 on her way to 17 points and seven boards. That's the most boards Brown has posted since back in December of 2024. Journee Thomas also deserves some recognition as she posted her first block of the season.
This is the second loss in a row for Indianapolis Scecina Memorial and nudges their season record down to 10-11. As for Eastern Hancock, their defeat ended a three-game streak of away wins and brought them to 19-3.
Rebounding is likely to be a big factor in this contest: Eastern Hancock has been crashing the rebounds this season, having averaged 33.8 boards per game. However, it's not like Indianapolis Scecina Memorial struggles in that department as they've been averaging 25.9 rebounds. With both teams battling to corral missed shots, we'll see if one team can grab an edge.
Everything came up roses for Eastern Hancock against Indianapolis Scecina Memorial in their previous meeting back in February of 2024, as the squad secured a 67-11 victory. In that contest, Eastern Hancock amassed a halftime lead of 37-6, an impressive feat they'll look to repeat on Tuesday.
