Basketball Game Preview: Castle Knights vs. Monrovia Bulldogs

The Castle Knights and the Monrovia Bulldogs will round out the year against one another at at 1:00 p.m. on Friday. Expect the scorekeeper to be kept busy: if their previous games are any indication, the two teams will really light up the scoreboard.

Castle is probably headed into the matchup with a chip on their shoulder considering South Knox just ended the team's six-game winning streak on Saturday. They took a 65-59 hit to the loss column at the hands of the Spartans. While losing is never fun, the Knights can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Indiana basketball rankings (they are ranked 68th, while the Spartans are ranked fifth).

Meanwhile, Monrovia waltzed into their game on Saturday with two straight wins... but they left with three. They walked away with a 67-59 victory over the Artesians.

Castle better keep an eye on Emery Newlin. She was instrumental in Monrovia's win, going 8 for 16 on her way to 30 points in addition to six steals and five boards. The dominant performance gave Newlin a new career-high in points. The team also got some help courtesy of Zoie Walls, who dropped a double-double on 12 points and 11 boards.

Monrovia has been performing well recently as they've won four of their last five contests, which provided a nice bump to their 6-4 record this season. The wins came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 62.4 points per game. As for Castle, their loss ended a three-game streak of away wins and brought them to 8-5.