Basketball Preview: Bell Bulldogs vs. Jefferson County Tigers
The Bell Bulldogs and the Jefferson County Tigers will face off at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday without much rest after finishing up games yesterday. The two teams each escaped (but just barely!) with wins against their previous opponents.
Bell will head into Friday's contest on the come-up: they were handed a 22-point loss in their previous outing, but they didn't let that bad energy affect their game against Saint Francis Catholic on Friday. Bell had just enough and edged Saint Francis Catholic out 33-31. The score was all tied up 11-11 at the break, but the Bulldogs were the better team in the second half.
Maddie Smith and Dacy Graham were among the main playmakers for Bell as the former went 8 for 16 en route to 19 points plus two steals and the latter earned seven points plus 19 rebounds and three steals. That makes it three consecutive games in which Smith has scored at least a third of Bell's points.
Bell smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 25 offensive rebounds. That's the most offensive rebounds they've posted since the start of last season.
Meanwhile, there's no place like home for Jefferson County, who bounced back after a loss on the road back in November. They narrowly escaped with a victory as the squad sidled past Altha 30-27. For those keeping track at home, that's the closest win the Tigers have posted since January 5th.
Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead Jefferson County to victory, but perhaps none more so than Haley Schmigel, who earned 13 points plus six rebounds. The team also got some help courtesy of Hope Steen, who earned 11 points.
Bell now has a winning record of 2-1. As for Jefferson County, the victory got them back to even at 1-1.
Bell might still be hurting after the 47-26 defeat they got from Jefferson County when the teams last played back in December of 2017. Can Bell avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
