After both having extra time off, the Olympus Titans and the West Panthers will dust off their jerseys to face off against one another at 5:15 p.m. on Friday. Both teams are coming into the game red-hot, with Olympus sitting on five straight victories and West on nine.
Olympus will head into Friday's matchup hoping to keep the good times rolling: they had to skate by with only a two-point margin when they last took the court, which might have inspired the 26-point drubbing they dealt Uintah last Friday. Olympus blew past Uintah 62-36. That 26 point margin sets a new team best for the Titans this season.
Olympus had a senior duo take command as Joss Baker almost dropped a double-double on 21 points and nine rebounds and Claire Hazen went 7 of 14 on her way to 19 points. That makes it four consecutive games in which Baker has scored at least a third of Olympus' points. The team also got some help courtesy of Breanna Kitiona, who posted nine points and eight rebounds.
Olympus smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with ten offensive rebounds. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least eight offensive boards in six consecutive contests.
Meanwhile, West had just enough and edged Rosary Academy out 61-58 last Saturday. Given the Panthers' advantage in MaxPreps' basketball rankings in their respective home states (they are ranked fourth in Utah, while the Royals are ranked 137th in California), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Olympus better focus on containing Kylee Falatea and Fina Tuha as the pair were huge in West's win. Falatea went 7 of 15 on her way to 14 points along with eight steals and six assists, while Tuha almost dropped a double-double on 15 points and nine boards. Falatea is on a roll when it comes to steals, as she's now grabbed two or more in the last 28 games she's played dating back to last season. The team also got some help courtesy of Tiana Fa, who posted seven points and eight boards.
West's win bumped their record up to 9-0. As for Olympus, their victory was their third straight at home, which pushed their record up to 5-3.
Some high-performance offense is likely on the agenda as both are some of the highest scoring teams in the league. Olympus hasn't had any problem running up the score this season, having averaged 57.9 points per game. However, it's not like West struggles in that department as they've been averaging 64.8 points. With both teams so easily able to put up points, the only question left is who can run the score up higher.
Olympus might still be hurting after the 65-41 loss they got from West in their previous matchup back in January. Can Olympus avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
