Basketball Game Preview: Ottawa Cyclones vs. Paola Panthers

The Ottawa Cyclones are taking a road trip to face off against the Paola Panthers on Friday. Ottawa will be strutting in after a victory while Paola will be coming in after a loss.

Ottawa took a loss when they played away from home on Friday, but their home fans gave them all the motivation they needed on Tuesday. They walked away with a 53-45 win over Baldwin.

Meanwhile, Paola was not able to break out of their rough patch on Tuesday as the team picked up their ninth straight defeat dating back to last season. They had to suffer through a 47-17 loss at the hands of Tonganoxie. While losing is never fun, the Panthers can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Kansas basketball rankings (they are ranked 266th, while the Chieftains are ranked 102nd).

Paola's loss dropped their record down to 0-6. As for Ottawa, they pushed their record up to 5-1 with the victory, which was their 14th straight at home dating back to last season.

Ottawa was able to grind out a solid win over Paola in their previous meeting back in December of 2024, winning 51-41. The rematch might be a little tougher for Ottawa since the squad won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.