Basketball Game Preview: Yelm Tornados vs. Rogers Rams

The Yelm Tornados will head out to face off against the Rogers Rams at 7:00 p.m. on Saturday. Yelm has now lost ten straight, leaving the team hunting for their first win since November 30.

Yelm is likely headed into the contest with a focus on the second half, which is when things went downhill against South Kitsap on Thursday. Yelm took a hard 60-44 fall against South Kitsap.

Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Rogers). They snuck past Bonney Lake with a 79-74 victory on Friday. Given the Rams' advantage in MaxPreps' Washington basketball rankings (they are ranked 104th, while the Panthers are ranked 219th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

Rogers' win came from a few key players Yelm will need to keep an eye on. One of the most notable was Treyshawn Weatherspoon, who went 12 of 16 on his way to 28 points along with five assists and five steals. He has been hot for a while, having posted two or more steals the last 17 times he's played. The team also got some help courtesy of Jamaire Grant, who went 9 of 13 en route to 22 points.

Rogers' win was their fourth straight at home, which pushed their record up to 7-5. Those victories came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 73.5 points per game. As for Yelm, their defeat dropped their record down to 1-10.

Yelm skirted past Rogers 67-65 when the teams last played back in November of 2015. Does Yelm have another victory up their sleeve, or will Rogers turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.