Preview: St. Joseph Jayhawks vs. Draper APA Eagles
St. Joseph is 0-5 against Draper APA since January of 2022 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Friday. The St. Joseph Jayhawks will square off against the Draper APA Eagles at 7:00 p.m. Both teams come into the match bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
Two teams were on the hunt for playoff glory, but only St. Joseph walked away with it. Everything went their way against the Knights on Tuesday as they made off with a 46-23 win. The match was all but wrapped up at the end of the third, by which point St. Joseph had established a 20 point advantage.
Katelyn Martinez continued her habit of posting crazy stat lines, scoring 22 points along with four steals. That makes it four consecutive games in which she has scored at least a third of St. Joseph's points. Eliza Berg was another key contributor, scoring eight points along with nine rebounds.
Meanwhile, Draper APA came tearing into last Thursday's game with 16 straight wins (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 42 points) and they left with even more momentum. They blew past American Heritage, posting a 76-42 victory at home. Draper APA has made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won 15 contests by 26 points or more this season.
Draper APA's win was the result of several impressive offensive performances. One of the most notable came from Jazmin Moctezuma, who dropped a double-double on 32 points and ten rebounds. As a matter of fact, that's the most points Moctezuma has scored all season. Another player making a difference was La'la Baldwin, who almost dropped a triple-double on 20 points, nine rebounds, and 12 assists.
The victory made it two in a row for St. Joseph and bumps their season record up to 9-12. As for Draper APA, they pushed their record up to 20-3 with that win, which was their ninth straight at home.
Friday's contest will pit two of the most dominant guards against one another: Martinez and Baldwin. Martinez has been dynamite this season: she has averaged 12.7 points, 4.2 steals, and 3.4 rebounds. For her part, Baldwin has averaged 22.6 points, 5.5 steals, and 10.2 assists.
St. Joseph was taken down by Draper APA 87-19 in their previous meeting last Tuesday. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Baldwin, who dropped a double-double on 28 points and 14 assists. Now that St. Joseph knows the damage she can cause, will they be able to stop her this time? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
