Basketball Game Preview: Kirkwood Pioneers vs. Collinsville Kahoks

The Kirkwood Pioneers and the Collinsville Kahoks will round out the year against one another at at 12:00 p.m. on Thursday. Both teams took a loss in their last game, so they'll have plenty of motivation to get the 'W'.

Kirkwood is headed in fresh off scoring the most points they have all season. They were just a bucket shy of victory on Monday and fell 54-53 to Parkway North. The Pioneers have now taken an 'L' in back-to-back games.

Meanwhile, Collinsville played a tough match on Thursday in which they were outscored in every quarter. They were dealt a 76-46 defeat at the hands of O'Fallon. While losing is never fun, the Kahoks can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Illinois basketball rankings (they are ranked 132nd, while the Panthers are ranked 29th).

Kirkwood's loss dropped their record down to 1-3. As for Collinsville, they dropped their record down to 7-5 with the defeat, which was their third straight at home.

Kirkwood beat Collinsville 47-39 in their previous matchup back in December of 2023. One of the biggest obstacles the team faced in that game was Collinsville's Talesha Gilmore, who dropped a double-double on 23 points and 13 boards. Now that she's got a second chance to win this matchup, will Kirkwood still be able to contain Gilmore? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.