Preview: Mattawan Wildcats vs. St. Joseph Bears
After four games on the road, Mattawan is heading back home. They will take on the St. Joseph Bears at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Both teams took a loss in their last game, so they'll have plenty of motivation to get the 'W'.
Last Tuesday, Mattawan came up short against Lakeview and fell 42-34.
Despite the defeat, Mattawan got a solid performance out of Delaney Elsmore, who scored 15 points along with seven rebounds and six steals. That was a full 44.1% of Mattawan's points, marking the 11th time in a row she's earned more than a third of the team's points. The team also got some help courtesy of Zhia Martin, who scored eight points along with six rebounds and four steals.
Meanwhile, St. Joseph also suffered a loss in their last game, but this one to Central by a score of 39-28. While losing is never fun, St. Joseph can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Michigan basketball rankings (they are ranked 452nd, while Central is ranked 198th).
Mattawan dropped their record down to 7-7 with that defeat, which was their third straight on the road. As for St. Joseph, this is the second loss in a row for them and nudges their season record down to 3-10.
Everything came up roses for Mattawan against St. Joseph in their previous meeting back in December of 2023 as the squad secured a 57-22 win. Will Mattawan repeat their success, or does St. Joseph have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
