Basketball Game Preview: Luella Lions vs. Cedar Grove Saints

Luella hasn't had much luck against Cedar Grove recently, but that could start to change on Saturday. The Luella Lions will venture away from home to face off against the Cedar Grove Saints at 5:00 p.m. Expect the scorekeeper to be kept busy: if their previous games are any indication, the two teams will really light up the scoreboard.

Luella is on a roll after a high-stakes playoff matchup on Wednesday. They came out on top against Adairsville by a score of 69-62. The win made it back-to-back victories for the Lions.

Meanwhile, Cedar Grove had already won 16 in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 31.4 points) and they went ahead and made it 17 on Wednesday. They walked away with a 61-48 win over the Bulldogs. Given the Saints' advantage in MaxPreps' Georgia basketball rankings (they are ranked 12th, while the Bulldogs are ranked 269th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

Luella better keep an eye on Yusef Bowyer. He was instrumental in Cedar Grove's win, putting up 18 points. The match was Bowyer's third in a row with at least 15 points. Another player making a difference was Keith Gillespie, who posted 12 points.

Cedar Grove's victory was their 11th straight at home, which pushed their record up to 25-3. The wins came thanks in part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 71.5 points over those games. As for Luella, their win bumped their record up to 18-9.

Luella was dealt a bruising 68-37 defeat at the hands of Cedar Grove in their previous matchup two weeks ago. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Gillespie, who earned 22 points. Now that Luella knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? There's only one way to find out.