Basketball Game Preview: Minden Whippets vs. McCook Bison

Minden and McCook are an even 5-5 against one another since January of 2018, but not for long. The Minden Whippets will head out to challenge the McCook Bison at 4:30 p.m. on Saturday. Minden is strutting in with some offensive muscle as they've averaged 57.4 points per game this season.

Minden will bounce into Saturday's game after beating St. Cecilia, who they had gone 0-9 against in their nine prior meetings. Everything went Minden's way against St. Cecilia on Thursday as Minden made off with a 52-32 win. Given the Whippets' advantage in MaxPreps' Nebraska basketball rankings (they are ranked seventh, while the Bluehawks are ranked 82nd), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

Mattie Kamery continued her habit of posting crazy stat lines, going 8 for 11 on her way to 17 points in addition to six steals and five assists. Her evening made it four games in a row in which she has scored at least ten points. Another player making a difference was Kinsie Land, who posted 11 points and eight rebounds.

Meanwhile, McCook earned a 48-35 victory over Hastings on Friday.

Minden's win was their 17th straight at home dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 12-1. They've dominated over that stretch too, winning by an average of 24.6 points. As for McCook, their victory bumped their record up to 10-3.

Minden was able to grind out a solid win over McCook in their previous meeting back in January of 2023, winning 48-37. The rematch might be a little tougher for Minden since the team won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.