Basketball Game Preview: Mankato East Cougars vs. Owatonna Huskies

The Mankato East Cougars will head out to challenge the Owatonna Huskies at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday. Mankato East has a tough task ahead: they'll enter the match with four straight losses, while Owatonna will come in with four straight wins.

Last Saturday, Mankato East was beaten by Orono 71-36. While losing is never fun, the Cougars can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Minnesota basketball rankings (they are ranked 319th, while the Spartans are ranked third).

Meanwhile, Owatonna didn't have too much trouble with Delano on Saturday as they won 63-48.

Owatonna's win came from a few key players Mankato East will need to keep an eye on. One of the most notable was Jersey Coleman, who went 6 for 12 on her way to 13 points in addition to five rebounds and three steals. The team also got some help courtesy of Maryn Pool, who posted 13 points and four steals.

Owatonna has been performing well recently as they've won five of their last six games, which provided a nice bump to their 6-4 record this season. Those victories came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 62.8 points per game. As for Mankato East, their defeat dropped their record down to 1-7.

Mankato East came up short against Owatonna in their previous matchup back in February, falling 57-45. Can Mankato East avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.