Preview: Perkins County Plainsmen vs. Hershey Panthers
Perkins County is 0-10 against Hershey since December of 2016 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Thursday. The Perkins County Plainsmen will face off against the Hershey Panthers at 8:00 p.m. Perkins County is looking to tack on another W to their three-game streak on the road.
Even though Perkins County has not done well against St. Patrick's recently (they were 1-8 in their previous nine matchups), they didn't let the past get in their way on Tuesday. Perkins County came out on top against St. Patrick's by a score of 47-38. The score was all tied up 14-14 at the break, but Perkins County was the better team in the second half.
Perkins County's success was spearheaded by the efforts of Kailee Potts, who scored 18 points along with five steals, and Libby Cole, who dropped a double-double on 17 points and 13 rebounds. As a matter of fact, that's the most points Cole has scored all season. Another player making a difference was Maggie Fisher, who scored four points.
Meanwhile, Hershey entered their tilt with Sutherland with two consecutive wins but they'll enter their next game with three. Hershey claimed a resounding 61-28 win over Sutherland at home. Given Hershey's advantage in MaxPreps' Nebraska basketball rankings (they are ranked 87th, while Sutherland is ranked 263rd), the result on Tuesday wasn't entirely unexpected.
Payton Jones and Emma Hall were among the main playmakers for Hershey as the former scored 12 points along with two steals and the latter scored 15 points along with five rebounds and two steals. Jones hasn't dropped below two steals for three straight games. The team also got some help courtesy of Ali Vaughn, who scored eight points.
Perkins County is on a roll lately: they've won four of their last five matches, which provided a nice bump to their 9-5 record this season. Hershey's record now sits at 8-4.
Perkins County came up short against Hershey in their previous matchup back in November of 2023, falling 60-54. Can Perkins County avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
