Basketball Game Preview: Mishawaka Cavemen vs. NorthWood Panthers

Mishawaka is 1-9 against NorthWood since November of 2014 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Friday. The Mishawaka Cavemen will challenge the NorthWood Panthers at 7:45 p.m.

Mishawaka is headed into Friday's match looking for a big change in momentum after dropping their fifth straight game on Wednesday. They had to suffer through a 71-20 loss at the hands of Glenn. While losing is never fun, the Cavemen can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Indiana basketball rankings (they are ranked 345th, while the Falcons are ranked 97th).

Meanwhile, even if it wasn't a dominant performance, NorthWood beat South Bend St. Joseph 45-40 on Tuesday. The win made it back-to-back victories for the Panthers.

Mishawaka better focus on containing Claire Payne and Ella Branham as the pair were huge in NorthWood's win. Payne went 7 of 9 on her way to 16 points and eight rebounds, while Branham went 8 of 17 on her way to 16 points and five rebounds. Payne has been hot recently, having posted eight or more rebounds the last three times she's played. The team also got some help courtesy of Megan Yoder, who posted seven points and four steals.

Mishawaka's defeat dropped their record down to 2-8. As for NorthWood, their victory was their fifth straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 8-1.

Mishawaka was taken down by NorthWood 56-28 in their previous matchup back in December of 2023. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Payne, who dropped a double-double on 12 points and 17 boards. Now that Mishawaka knows the damage she can cause, will they be able to stop her this time? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.