Gordon-Rushville has gone 8-2 against Valentine recently and they'll look to pad the win column further on Friday. The Gordon-Rushville Mustangs will welcome Valentine.
Last Friday, Gordon-Rushville took a blow against Bridgeport, falling 76-31. While losing is never fun, the Mustangs can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Nebraska basketball rankings (they are ranked 249th, while the Bulldogs are ranked 64th).
Kannon Leeper
| 02/14/25 @ Bridgeport | 2 |
| 02/08/25 vs Hemingford | 5 |
| 02/07/25 vs Bayard | 4 |
Despite the loss, Gordon-Rushville had strong showings from Daniel Martins, who went 5-for-9 to rack up 13 points, and Kannon Leeper, who posted five points. Leeper has been hot recently, having also posted two or more steals the last three times he's played.
Meanwhile, Valentine waltzed into their game on Thursday with two straight wins... but they left with three. They breezed past the Knights to the tune of 74-30. That 44 point margin sets a new team best for Valentine this season.
Gordon-Rushville better keep an eye on Andon Olson. He was instrumental in Valentine's win, going 9-for-19 en route to 23 points along with five boards and five steals. Olson is becoming a predictor of Valentine's success: when he posts at least five steals the team is undefeated (and 8-10 when he doesn't). The team also got some help courtesy of Dominic Beebout, who went 6-for-12 on his way to 15 points and five assists.
Valentine was working as a unit and finished the game with 20 assists. The team's really been improving in that area: they've now improved their assist total in three consecutive contests.
Valentine's win was their third straight at home, which pushed their record up to 11-10. The wins came thanks in part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 69.0 points over those games. As for Gordon-Rushville, this is the second loss in a row for them and nudges their season record down to 6-15.
Rebounding is likely to be a big factor in this contest: Gordon-Rushville has been crashing the boards this season, having averaged 25.6 rebounds per game. However, it's not like Valentine struggles in that department as they've been averaging 25.7 boards. With both teams battling to corral missed shots, we'll see if one team can grab an edge.
Gordon-Rushville strolled past Valentine in their previous meeting back in February of 2023 by a score of 46-30. Does Gordon-Rushville have another victory up their sleeve, or will Valentine turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.
