Basketball Game Preview: Box Elder Bees vs. Clearfield Falcons

The Box Elder Bees will take on the Clearfield Falcons at 5:15 p.m. on Wednesday. Box Elder will be strutting in after a victory while Clearfield will be coming in after a defeat.

Box Elder took a loss when they played away from home on Wednesday, but their home fans gave them all the motivation they needed on Friday. They snuck past Bonneville with a 48-44 win.

Box Elder can attribute much of their success to Jocelyn Vranes, who almost dropped a double-double on 23 points and nine steals, and Emma Nelson, who posted 15 points in addition to four blocks and three steals. The dominant performance gave Nelson a new career-high in blocks.

Meanwhile, Clearfield came up short against Bountiful on Friday and fell 42-35. The Falcons haven't had much luck with the RedHawks recently, as the team's come up short the last six times they've met.

Box Elder will have to keep a close watch on Isabelle Wyaskett and Ciara De La O, a pair of players who had a big impact on Clearfield's prior game. Wyaskett put up ten points, while De La O earned ten points. Wyaskett has been hot for a while, having also posted two or more steals the last 13 times she's played.

Box Elder's victory ended a seven-game drought at home and bumped them up to 2-19. As for Clearfield, their loss dropped their record down to 15-6.

Rebounding is likely to be a big factor in this contest: Box Elder has been crashing the boards this season, having averaged 24.5 rebounds per game. However, it's not like Clearfield struggles in that department as they've been averaging 29.2 boards. With both teams battling to corral missed shots, we'll see if one team can grab an edge.

Box Elder ended up a good deal behind Clearfield in their previous matchup back in January, losing 52-33. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Wyaskett, who went 5 for 9 on her way to 16 points and eight steals. Now that Box Elder knows the damage she can cause, will they be able to stop her this time? There's only one way to find out.