Basketball Game Preview: Barnesville Shamrocks vs. Bellaire Big Reds

Barnesville is 1-9 against Bellaire since February of 2018 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Monday. The Barnesville Shamrocks are taking a road trip to challenge the Bellaire Big Reds at 7:30 p.m.

Barnesville is coming in off a wild two-game stretch: after soaring to 62 points last Thursday, they were much more limited against Union Local on Monday. They came up short against the Jets, falling 38-17. The match marked the Shamrocks' lowest-scoring game so far this season.

Meanwhile, Bellaire had already won five in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 15.6 points) and they went ahead and made it six on Monday. They blew past the Pilots 61-34. The Big Reds have made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won three contests by 27 points or more this season.

Barnesville better focus on containing Zara Harveth and Tamya Morgan as the pair were huge in Bellaire's win. Harveth went 8 for 12 on her way to 20 points in addition to eight rebounds and three steals, while Morgan almost dropped a double-double on 18 points and nine boards. Harveth's evening made it seven games in a row in which she has scored at least ten points. The team also got some help courtesy of Eliana Mason, who posted eight points and eight assists.

Bellaire was working as a unit and finished the game with 17 assists. That's the most assists they've managed all season.

Barnesville now has a losing record at 4-5. As for Bellaire, they pushed their record up to 7-1 with the victory, which was their third straight on the road.

Barnesville suffered a grim 46-26 defeat to Bellaire when the teams last played back in December of 2022. Can Barnesville avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.