Basketball Game Preview: Italy Gladiators vs. Dawson Bulldogs

By Team Reports Jan 14, 2025, 12:44am

Basketball Preview: Italy Gladiators vs. Dawson Bulldogs

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The Italy Gladiators will challenge the Dawson Bulldogs at 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday. Both come into the contest bolstered by wins in their previous matches.

Italy will bounce into Tuesday's matchup after beating Kerens, who they had gone 2-7 against in their nine prior meetings. Italy walked away with a 42-33 victory over Kerens on Saturday.

Camdyn Owen

Rebounds (Career)

01/11/25 @ Kerens13
01/19/24 @ Valley Mills8
11/09/24 @ Buffalo7
12/06/24 vs Trenton7
12/31/24 @ Hubbard7

Italy can attribute much of their success to Camdyn Owen, who dropped a double-double on 11 points and 13 boards. The dominant performance gave Owen a new career-high in boards. Another player making a difference was Landry Janek, who posted four points in addition to seven boards and five assists.

Italy smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 31 offensive boards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least eight offensive rebounds in six consecutive games.

Meanwhile, Dawson was fully in charge on Friday, breezing past Hubbard 36-2. The win made it back-to-back victories for the Bulldogs.

Italy better focus on containing Azarei Young and Joselynn Wilson as the pair were huge in Dawson's win. Young put up eight points along with six steals and five boards, while Wilson had 11 points and four steals. Young has been hot, having posted two or more steals the last six times she's played. The team also got some help courtesy of Malaina Bryan, who posted four points and seven steals.

Italy is on a roll lately: they've won four of their last five contests, which provided a nice bump to their 14-7 record this season. The wins came thanks to their defensive effort, having only surrendered 25.0 points per game. As for Dawson, their win ended a three-game drought at home and bumped them up to 6-6.

Italy beat Dawson 42-30 in their previous meeting back in December of 2024. The rematch might be a little tougher for Italy since the squad won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.

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