Needles has won 14 straight games at home (dating back to last season), while Lincoln County has won 14 straight on the road, but those streaks won't matter much on Saturday. Both will face off at 4:30 p.m. without much rest having both just played. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.
Needles is headed into the contest after thoroughly thrashing White Pine: they outscored them in every quarter. Given that consistent dominance, it should come as no surprise that Needles blew White Pine out of the water with a 77-24 final score. The game was pretty much decided by the half, when the score had already reached 43-15.
Needles' win on Friday was the result of several impressive offensive performances. One of the most notable came from Darrell Russell, who went 7 for 14 on his way to 17 points and six assists. The team also got some help courtesy of Holden Jones, who went 5 of 8 en route to 13 points and four steals.
Russell wasn't the only one working in the assists department: Needles was working as a unit and finished the game with 27 assists. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now posted at least 21 assists in four consecutive matches.
Meanwhile, Lincoln County got the win against Laughlin on Friday by a conclusive 74-54. The Lynx pushed the score to 64-36 by the end of the third, a deficit the Cougars cut but never quite recovered from.
Needles better keep an eye on Kalen Bart. He was instrumental in Lincoln County's win, dropping a double-double on 26 points and 11 boards. Bart has been hot recently, having posted ten or more rebounds the last three times he's played. Rowdy Lloyd was another key player, going 7 for 14 on his way to 17 points along with five assists and three steals.
Lincoln County is on a roll lately: they've won seven of their last eight contests, which provided a nice bump to their 13-5 record this season. Those victories came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 59.9 points per game. As for Needles, their victory bumped their record up to 19-0.
Some high-performance offense is likely on the agenda as Needles and Lincoln County are some of the highest scoring teams in the league. Needles hasn't had any problem running up the score this season, having averaged 77.2 points per game. However, it's not like Lincoln County struggles in that department as they've been averaging 56.5 points. With both teams so easily able to put up points, the only question left is who can run the score up higher.
Everything came up roses for Needles against Lincoln County in their previous meeting back in December of 2024, as the team secured a 74-38 win. In that game, Needles amassed a halftime lead of 38-16, an impressive feat they'll look to repeat on Saturday.
