Preview: Unity Reed Lions vs. Westfield Bulldogs
Unity Reed is 0-3 against Westfield since December of 2014 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Thursday. The Unity Reed Lions will wrap up 2023 with a road trip to face off against the Westfield Bulldogs at 7:00 p.m. Westfield took a loss in their last contest and will be looking to turn the tables on Unity Reed, who comes in off a win.
Unity Reed fell on hard times earlier this season, but after back-to-back wins it seems like their luck might finally be changing. They strolled past Osbourn Park with points to spare on Tuesday, taking the game 62-43.
Unity Reed's win was a true team effort, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was Charles Pargo, who scored 20 points along with seven rebounds and four steals. The contest was Pargo's ninth in a row with at least ten points. Peyton Powell was another key contributor, scoring 14 points along with five rebounds.
Meanwhile, Westfield pushed their score all the way to 68 on Thursday, but even that wasn't enough to win. They took a 74-68 hit to the loss column at the hands of Freedom. Despite running the score up even higher than they did on Monday (66), Westfield still had to take the loss.
Despite their defeat, Westfield saw several players rise to the challenge and make noteworthy plays. William Robinson, who scored 25 points, was perhaps the best of all. Those 25 points set a new season-high mark for him. Another player making a difference was Isaiah Brown, who scored 18 points.
Unity Reed's victory bumped their record up to 3-6. As for Westfield, they now have a losing record at 4-5.
Some high-performance offense is likely on the agenda as both teams are some of the highest scoring teams in the league. Unity Reed hasn't had any problem running up the score this season, having only averaged 55.7 points per game. It's a different story for Westfield, though, as they've been averaging only 62.2 points per game. With both teams so easily able to put up points, the only question left is who can run the score up higher.
Unity Reed and Westfield were neck-and-neck in their previous meeting back in February of 2018, but Unity Reed came up empty-handed after a 76-75 loss. Can Unity Reed avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
