Basketball Game Preview: Centura Centurions vs. St. Paul Wildcats

The Centura Centurions will take on the St. Paul Wildcats at 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday. The teams are on pretty different trajectories at the moment (Centura has three straight wins, St. Paul has seven straight losses), but none of that matters once you're on the court.

Centura is headed into the matchup after thoroughly thrashing Loomis: they outscored them in every quarter. Centura blew past Loomis 48-26 on Saturday.

Meanwhile, St. Paul played a tough contest on Tuesday in which they were outscored in every quarter. They were dealt a 70-26 defeat at the hands of Minden. The Wildcats were in a tough position after the first half, with the score already sitting at 43-19.

Centura will need focus on slowing down Katie Kleinsasser, one of several St. Paul players who made an impact when they last played. She posted six points and five rebounds. The dominant performance also gave Kleinsasser a new career-high in assists (two). Aubree Fitzgerald was another key player, putting up six points and six boards.

Even though they lost, St. Paul smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with ten offensive boards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least eight offensive rebounds in four consecutive games.

Centura is on a roll lately: they've won four of their last five matches, which provided a nice bump to their 7-9 record this season. The wins came thanks to their defensive effort, having only surrendered 27.8 points per game. As for St. Paul, their loss dropped their record down to 5-10.

Everything came up roses for Centura against St. Paul in their previous meeting back in January of 2024, as the team secured a 49-21 victory. Will Centura repeat their success, or does St. Paul have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.