Basketball Game Preview: Fairbanks Panthers vs. Catholic Central Irish

The Fairbanks Panthers will head out on the road to challenge the Catholic Central Irish at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday. The teams are on pretty different trajectories at the moment (Fairbanks has four straight wins, Catholic Central has seven straight losses), but none of that matters once you're on the court.

Fairbanks is headed in fresh off scoring the most points they have all season. They simply couldn't be stopped on Saturday as they easily beat Northeastern 68-13. With the Panthers ahead 42-10 at the half, the contest was all but over already.

Fairbanks got their victory on the backs of several key players, but it was Mollie Thrush out in front who made all 5 shots she took to post 10 points and three steals. Thrush is trending in the right direction considering she's improved her point production for three straight games. The team also got some help courtesy of Grace Zahn, who posted four points along with six boards and six steals.

Fairbanks was working as a unit and finished the game with 18 assists. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Northeastern only posted four assists.

Meanwhile, Catholic Central played a tough game on Wednesday in which they were outscored in every quarter. They were beaten by Mechanicsburg 48-9. The matchup marked the Irish's lowest-scoring contest so far this season.

Fairbanks' win was their third straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 6-1. The wins came thanks to their defensive effort, having only surrendered 25.3 points per game. As for Catholic Central, their defeat dropped their record down to 0-6.

Fairbanks couldn't quite finish off Catholic Central in their previous meeting back in December of 2023 and fell 38-35. Can Fairbanks avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.