Basketball Game Preview: Gillespie Miners vs. Roxana Shells

Gillespie hasn't had much luck against Roxana recently, but that could start to change on Tuesday. The Gillespie Miners will challenge the Roxana Shells at 7:30 p.m. Gillespie knows how to get points on the board -- the squad has finished with 55 points or more in their past ten games -- so hopefully Roxana likes a good challenge.

Gillespie will bounce into Tuesday's contest after beating Pana, who they had gone 2-7 against in their nine prior meetings. Gillespie snuck past Pana with a 55-49 victory on Saturday.

Meanwhile, Roxana came up short against Staunton on Saturday and fell 56-46. While losing is never fun, the Shells can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Illinois basketball rankings (they are ranked 325th, while the Bulldogs are ranked 146th).

Roxana's defeat dropped their record down to 10-13. As for Gillespie, their win was their first in the conference, bumping their conference record up to 1-3 and their overall record up to 5-16.

Gillespie was taken down by Roxana 69-42 when the teams last played back in January of 2024. Thankfully for Gillespie, Chris Walleck (who went 10 of 20 on his way to 24 points and four steals) won't be suiting up this time. Will that be enough to change the final result? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.