Preview: Vestaburg Wolverines vs. St. Charles Bulldogs
Vestaburg is 0-7 against St. Charles since February of 2021 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Friday. The Vestaburg Wolverines will be playing in front of their home fans against the St. Charles Bulldogs at 6:30 p.m. Both teams come into the match bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
Vestaburg had to endure a four-game losing streak, but that streak is no more. Everything went their way against Carson City-Crystal on Wednesday as Vestaburg made off with a 40-15 victory. The win was just what Vestaburg needed coming off of a 62-20 loss in their prior game.
Vestaburg found their leader in underclassman Lily Johnston, who scored 20 points along with five rebounds and five steals. That makes it four consecutive games in which Johnston has scored at least a third of Vestaburg's points. Another player making a difference was Megan Beetley, who scored eight points along with eight rebounds.
Meanwhile, St. Charles had already won eight in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 26.1 points), and they went ahead and made it nine on Wednesday. They came out on top against Merrill by a score of 47-36. Given St. Charles' advantage in MaxPreps' Michigan basketball rankings (they are ranked 99th, while Merrill is ranked 411th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Allison Zelinko and Emily Zelinko were among the main playmakers for St. Charles as the former dropped a double-double on 12 points and ten rebounds and the latter scored 15 points along with five assists and five rebounds. Zelinko is absolutely dominating the steal category: she's posted at least two every time she's taken the court this season. Kendall Harger was another key contributor, scoring seven points along with five assists and three steals.
Vestaburg's victory ended a three-game drought at home and bumped them up to 5-6. As for St. Charles, they pushed their record up to 9-1 with that win, which was their 11th straight on the road.
This contest is one where the number of possessions is likely to be a big factor: Vestaburg have been smashing the glass this season, having averaged 28.2 rebounds per game. However, it's not like St. Charles struggles in that department as they've been averaging 28.4 rebounds per game. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
Vestaburg ended up a good deal behind St. Charles in their previous matchup back in December of 2023, losing 55-37. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Zelinko, who scored 17 points along with eight steals and five rebounds. Now that Vestaburg knows the damage she can cause, will they be able to stop her this time? There's only one way to find out.
