Basketball Preview: Millard Eagles vs. Manti Templars
The Millard Eagles will venture away from home to challenge the Manti Templars at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday. Hopefully Millard focused on turnovers this week as the team gave up 20 on Tuesday.
Millard is headed into the game having just suffered their closest defeat since December 7, 2023 on Tuesday. They fell just short of Gunnison Valley by a score of 46-43.
Millard's loss shouldn't obscure the performances of Kyra Moat, who went 5 for 11 en route to 13 points plus five rebounds and five steals, and Blakelie Davies, who earned 12 points along with seven rebounds and four steals. Moat is on a roll when it comes to steals, as she's now grabbed two or more in the last seven games she's played dating back to last season. Another player making a difference was Olivia Bassett, who posted ten points plus five rebounds and two steals.
Even though they lost, Millard smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 14 offensive rebounds. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least ten offensive rebounds in 15 consecutive matches dating back to last season.
Meanwhile, Manti hadn't done well against San Juan recently (they were 1-8 in their previous nine matchups), but they didn't let the past get in their way on Tuesday. Manti simply couldn't be stopped as they easily beat San Juan 65-31. The Templars have made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won three contests by 27 points or more this season.
Manti had a senior duo take command as June Olsen went 9 for 16 en route to 20 points plus eight rebounds and six steals and Cadee Alder almost dropped a double-double on 12 points and nine assists. With that strong performance, Olsen is now averaging an impressive 15.6 points per game. The team also got some help courtesy of Brooklyn Olson, who dropped a double-double on 12 points and ten rebounds.
Millard dropped their record down to 0-2 with the defeat, which was their fifth straight on the road dating back to last season. As for Manti, they now have a winning record of 3-2.
Everything went Millard's way against Manti in their previous matchup back in December of 2018, as Millard made off with a 54-34 win. Will Millard repeat their success, or does Manti have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
