Preview: New Prairie Cougars vs. Argos Dragons
The New Prairie Cougars will be home for the holidays to greet the Argos Dragons at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday. New Prairie will be looking to keep their nine-game home win streak (dating back to last season) alive.
Last Thursday, New Prairie strolled past Jimtown with points to spare, taking the game 57-38. Given New Prairie's advantage in MaxPreps' Indiana basketball rankings (they are ranked 49th, while Jimtown is ranked 189th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
New Prairie had a senior duo take command as Jolie Johns scored 17 points along with seven rebounds and four steals and Jayden Flagg scored 16 points along with six assists and four steals. That makes it five consecutive games in which Flagg has scored at least 25% of New Prairie's points. Another player making a difference was Maci Ernsperger, who scored five points along with six steals.
Meanwhile, Argos scored the most points they've had all season to find success on Thursday. They simply couldn't be stopped as they easily beat South Bend Career Academy 80-6 on the road. Argos might be getting used to big wins seeing as the team's won five games by 25 points or more this season.
Samantha Redinger was her usual excellent self, scoring 33 points along with nine steals and six assists. The game was her 12th in a row with at least ten points. Morgyn Barcus was another key contributor, scoring 14 points along with five assists and four steals.
New Prairie's win bumped their record up to 11-1. As for Argos, their victory bumped their record up to 5-7.
Some high-performance offense is likely on the agenda as both teams are some of the highest scoring teams in the league. New Prairie hasn't had any problem running up the score this season, having only averaged 55.3 points per game. However, it's not like Argos struggles in that department as they've been averaging only 54.2 points per game. With both teams so easily able to put up points, the only question left is who can run the score up higher.
New Prairie beat Argos 57-50 when the teams last played back in December of 2022. Will New Prairie repeat their success, or does Argos have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
