Preview: Battle Creek Braves vs. Norfolk Catholic Knights
Battle Creek and Norfolk Catholic are an even 5-5 against one another since January of 2017, but not for long. Both teams will round out the year against one another at 1:00 p.m. on Thursday at. Battle Creek will be coming into the contest with an undefeated record on the line.
Battle Creek has made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won four games by 23 points or more this season. They put the hurt on Ponca with a sharp 46-22 win on Thursday. Given Battle Creek's advantage in MaxPreps' Nebraska basketball rankings (they are ranked 18th, while Ponca is ranked 141st), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Battle Creek's success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but Jadyn Buckendahl led the charge by scoring 11 points. Jaidyn Smutny was another key contributor, scoring eight points.
Meanwhile, Norfolk Catholic had just enough and edged St. Francis out 41-39 on Thursday. The win made it back-to-back wins for Norfolk Catholic.
Norfolk Catholic can attribute much of their success to Hayden Brummer, who scored ten points along with six rebounds, and Sidonia Wattier, who scored 15 points along with six rebounds. That's the first time this season that Wattier scored 15 or more points.
Battle Creek pushed their record up to 7-0 with that victory, which was their fourth straight on the road. As for Norfolk Catholic, they are on a roll lately: they've won three of their last four games, which provided a nice bump to their 5-3 record this season.
Thursday's match is shaping up to be a masterclass in shooting: Battle Creek have been dynamite from deep this season, having drained 37.7% of their threes per game. However, it's not like Norfolk Catholic struggles in that department as they've only made 32.3% of their threes per game this season. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
Battle Creek couldn't quite finish off Norfolk Catholic in their previous matchup back in January and fell 36-33. Thankfully for Battle Creek, Channatee Robles (who scored 19 points along with eight rebounds and three steals) won't be suiting up this time. Will that be enough to change the final result? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
