Basketball Preview: Plainfield East Bengals vs. Joliet West Tigers
Plainfield East is 1-9 against the Tigers since February of 2019 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Tuesday. The Plainfield East Bengals will head out on the road to face off against the Joliet West Tigers at 6:30 p.m. Both teams took a loss in their last game, so they'll have plenty of motivation to get the 'W'.
Plainfield East struggled with offensive rebounds on Thursday (the Cougars had ten more) and sadly the final score reflected it. Plainfield East took a 66-54 hit to the loss column at the hands of the Cougars. While losing is never fun, Plainfield East can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Illinois basketball rankings (they are ranked 317th, while the Cougars are ranked 124th).
Lexi Sepulveda put forth a good effort for the losing side as she scored 19 points along with eight rebounds and two steals. That was a full 35.2% of Plainfield East's points, marking the eighth time in a row she's earned more than a third of the team's points. Addie Haughian was another key contributor, scoring 13 points.
Joliet West lost a heartbreaker when they last took the court, but unfortunately for them the loss they were handed on on Thursday was a bit more commanding. They suffered a tough 74-49 defeat at the hands of Romeoville. Joliet West's defeat continues an unfortunate trend for the squad, making it three in a row.
Plainfield East has traveled a rocky road recently having lost 14 of their last 18 matches, which put a noticeable dent in their 8-17 record this season. As for Joliet West, their loss dropped their record down to 13-12.
Plainfield East came up short against the Tigers in their previous matchup back in December of 2023, falling 70-64. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Joliet West's Makayla Chism, who scored 21 points. Now that Plainfield East knows the damage she can cause, will they be able to stop her this time? There's only one way to find out.
