Preview: Badger Braves vs. Maplewood Rockets
After two games on the road, Badger is heading back home. They will take on the Maplewood Rockets at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday. Hopefully Badger focused on turnovers this week since the team gave up 29 on Saturday.
Badger suffered their biggest loss yet this season on Saturday. They ended up on the wrong side of a tough 72-47 walloping at the hands of Rootstown. While losing is never fun, Badger can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Ohio basketball rankings (they are ranked 264th, while Rootstown is ranked 66th).
Gabriella Miller put forth a good effort for the losing side as she scored 13 points. Another player making a difference was Anja Suhar, who scored three points.
Badger struggled to work together and finished the game with only four assists. They were crushed by their opponents in that department as Rootstown racked up 13 assists.
Meanwhile, Maplewood put the finishing touches on their sixth blowout victory of the season on Thursday. They breezed by Harding at home to the tune of 64-8. The victory was familiar territory for Maplewood who now have four in a row.
Maplewood's success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but Morgan Himes led the charge by scoring 14 points along with seven steals and five assists. Himes is absolutely dominating the steal category: she's posted at least two every time she's taken the court this season. Lauran Krieg was another key contributor, scoring 15 points along with five steals.
Badger's defeat dropped their record down to 12-2. As for Maplewood, they pushed their record up to 9-4 with that victory, which was their third straight at home.
Thursday's matchup is shaping up to be a scrappy game: Badger have been smashing the glass this season, having only averaged 30.4 rebounds per game. It's a different story for Maplewood, though, as they've been averaging only 28.2 rebounds per game. Given Badger's sizeable advantage in that area, Maplewood will need to find a way to close that gap.
Badger took their win against Maplewood in their previous meeting back in December of 2023 by a conclusive 64-41. Does Badger have another victory up their sleeve, or will Maplewood turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.
