Hayden and North Park are an even 5-5 against one another since February of 2017, but not for long. A feisty cat fight is on tap when the Hayden Tigers face off against the North Park Wildcats at 5:00 p.m. on Friday. The teams are on pretty different trajectories at the moment (Hayden has four straight wins, North Park has ten straight defeats), but none of that matters once you're on the court.
Hayden is headed in fresh off scoring the most points they have all season. They blew past Vail Christian 63-33 on Friday. The Tigers pushed the score to 45-24 by the end of the third, a deficit the Saints had little chance of recovering from.
| 12/22/23 vs Belleview Christian | 9 |
| 01/31/25 vs Vail Christian | 6 |
| 01/11/24 vs Little Snake River | 5 |
| 02/20/24 vs Soroco | 5 |
| 01/27/24 @ Soroco | 4 |
Hayden's success was spearheaded by the efforts of Taryn Schlim, who dropped a double-double on 14 points and 11 boards, and Sydney Wattles, who went 6 of 12 on her way to 13 points along with eight rebounds and five steals. What's more, Schlim also racked up six steals, the most she's had since back in December of 2023. Another player making a difference was Alexis Vreeman, who went 5 for 10 en route to 10 points in addition to five boards and three steals.
Hayden smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 28 offensive boards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least 12 offensive rebounds in 13 consecutive matches dating back to last season.
Meanwhile, North Park didn't have quite enough to beat Vail Mountain on Saturday and fell 32-30.
Hayden will have to keep a close watch on Paige Solano and Micah Wolvington, a pair of players who had a big impact on North Park's prior game. Solano posted seven points along with nine rebounds and three steals, while Wolvington put up 12 points in addition to seven steals and five boards.
Hayden's victory was their third straight at home, which pushed their record up to 7-5. The wins came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 52.7 points per game. As for North Park, their loss dropped their record down to 2-11.
Rebounding is likely to be a big factor in this contest: Hayden has been crashing the rebounds this season, having averaged 40 boards per game. However, it's not like North Park struggles in that department as they've been averaging 27.5 rebounds. With both teams battling to corral missed shots, we'll see if one team can grab an edge.
Hayden was able to grind out a solid win over North Park when the teams last played back in January, winning 46-33. The rematch might be a little tougher for Hayden since the squad won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
