Preview: Meade Buffaloes vs. Hodgeman County Longhorns
The Meade Buffaloes will take on the Hodgeman County Longhorns at 3:00 p.m. on Monday. Meade is coming into the match hot, having won their last five games.
Winning is just a little bit easier when you work as a team to rack up 11 more assists than your opponent, a fact Meade proved on Friday. They enjoyed a cozy 51-33 victory over Ashland. Given Meade's advantage in MaxPreps' Kansas basketball rankings (they are ranked 71st, while Ashland is ranked 216th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Meade relied on the efforts of Sayler Stapleton, who scored 19 points along with four steals, and Carlie Martin, who scored ten points along with five steals. Stapleton hasn't dropped below two steals for five straight games. Another player making a difference was Dallas Sherman, who scored four points along with seven rebounds and three steals.
Meanwhile, Hodgeman County put the finishing touches on their fourth blowout victory of the season on Tuesday. They took their matchup at home with ease, bagging a 61-32 victory over Minneola. For those keeping track at home, that's the biggest win Hodgeman County has posted since December 1, 2023.
Morgan Ruff and Taylor Bamberger were among the main playmakers for Hodgeman County as the former scored 11 points along with eight assists and eight rebounds and the latter scored 20 points along with six rebounds and four steals. That's the first time this season that Ruff posted eight or more assists. The team also got some help courtesy of Blake Dansel, who scored six points along with six rebounds.
Meade has been performing incredibly well recently as they've won seven of their last eight games, which provided a nice bump to their 7-4 record this season. As for Hodgeman County, the win (which was their third in a row) raised their record to 8-2.
Keep an eye on the arc in Monday's match: Meade have made nailing deep shots look easy this year this season, having only averaged 4.6 threes per game. It's a different story for Hodgeman County, though, as they've been averaging only 5.3 threes per game. Given Meade's sizeable advantage in that area, Hodgeman County will need to find a way to close that gap.
Meade came up short against Hodgeman County in their previous matchup back in December of 2023, falling 46-41. Can Meade avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
