Preview: Valmeyer Pirates vs. Dupo Tigers
The Valmeyer Pirates's road trip will continue as they head out to face the Dupo Tigers at 6:00 p.m. on February 8th. Hopefully Valmeyer focused on turnovers this week since the team gave up 15 on Thursday.
Last Thursday, it was a hard-fought contest, but Valmeyer had to settle for a 40-37 defeat against Steeleville.
The loss doesn't tell the whole story though, as several players had good games. One of the most active was Ava Reeves, who scored ten points. As a matter of fact, that's the most points she has scored all season. Avery Proffer was another key contributor, scoring nine points along with seven rebounds.
Meanwhile, Dupo struggled with three-point shooting accuracy on Monday (Gibault Catholic was 20% better) and sadly the final score reflected it. Dupo took a serious blow against Gibault Catholic, falling 67-34. Dupo was down 63-31 at the end of the third quarter, and things only got worse from there.
Despite the defeat, Dupo had strong showings from Addison Mitchell, who scored 11 points, and Keara Prater, who scored ten points along with five rebounds.
Valmeyer has not been sharp recently as the team's lost three of their last four matches, which put a noticeable dent in their 11-7 record this season. As for Dupo, their defeat dropped their record down to 5-18.
Thursday's contest is one where the number of possessions is likely to be a big factor: Valmeyer have been smashing the glass this season, having averaged 37.2 rebounds per game. However, it's not like Dupo struggles in that department as they've been averaging 25.9 rebounds per game. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
Valmeyer didn't have too much breathing room in their matchup against Dupo when the teams last played back in January, but they still walked away with a 37-31 win. Does Valmeyer have another victory up their sleeve, or will Dupo turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.
