Basketball Game Preview: Fishers Tigers vs. Evansville Central Bears

Two dominant forwards in Nevaeh Dickman and Madalynn Shirley are getting ready to go toe-to-toe. The Fishers Tigers and the Evansville Central Bears will round out the year against one another at at 4:30 p.m. on Friday.

Fishers is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of Indiana's top teams: Hamilton Southeastern, who was ranked second at the time (Fishers was ranked 23rd). Fishers fell 47-34 to Hamilton Southeastern on Friday. While the Tigers didn't get the win, they did start the game off strong, beating the Royals 11-3 in the first quarter.

Despite the loss, Fishers saw an underclassman step up: freshman Riley Schellhammer posted 17 points. Schellhammer has been hot, having also posted two or more steals the last five times she's played. Another player making a difference was Dickman, who had 12 points and five rebounds.

Meanwhile, Evansville Central entered their tilt with Tecumseh on Saturday with three consecutive wins but they'll enter their next game with four. They blew past the Braves, posting a 73-37 win. The Bears have made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won seven contests by 20 points or more this season.

Fishers better keep an eye on Shirley. She was instrumental in Evansville Central's win, dropping a triple-double on 25 points, 16 boards, and ten blocks. Shirley continues to improve, besting her previous point total in each of the last three games she's played. The team also got some help courtesy of Aubrie Durham, who went 5 of 10 on her way to 14 points and six rebounds.

Evansville Central was working as a unit and finished the game with 17 assists. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Tecumseh only posted three assists.

Evansville Central has been performing well recently as they've won five of their last six games, which provided a nice bump to their 10-3 record this season. Those victories came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 61.8 points per game. As for Fishers, their defeat ended a four-game streak of away wins and brought them to 9-5.