Preview: Oak Glen Golden Bears vs. Buckeye Local Panthers
The Oak Glen Golden Bears will head out on the road to take on the Buckeye Local Panthers at 7:00 p.m. on Monday. Oak Glen knows how to get points on the board -- the team has finished with flashy point totals in its past four contests -- so hopefully Buckeye Local likes a good challenge.
Oak Glen can now show off six landslide victories after their most recent contest on Wednesday. They breezed by Madonna at home to the tune of 65-24. The victory was all the more spectacular given Oak Glen's disadvantage in MaxPreps' West Virginia basketball rankings (they are ranked 380th, while Madonna is ranked 106th).
Kami Ward was her usual excellent self, scoring 20 points along with four steals. Ward is absolutely dominating the point category: she's posted at least 15 every time she's taken the court this season. Another player making a difference was Reecelyn Craig, who scored seven points along with four steals.
Even though Buckeye Local has not done well against Catholic Central recently (they were 1-6 in their previous seven matchups), they didn't let the past get in their way on Thursday. Buckeye Local came out on top against Catholic Central by a score of 39-29. The win was nothing new for Buckeye Local as they're now sitting on three straight.
Brynn McKeever and Pamela Kandrach were among the main playmakers for Buckeye Local as the former dropped a double-double on 13 points and ten rebounds and the latter dropped a double-double on 13 points and 20 rebounds. Kandrach has been hot recently, having posted eight or more rebounds the last 17 times she's played.
Oak Glen is on a roll lately: they've won five of their last six matchups, which provided a massive bump to their 8-7 record this season. As for Buckeye Local, they pushed their record up to 11-7 with that victory, which was their third straight at home.
This contest is one where the number of possessions is likely to be a big factor: Oak Glen have been smashing the glass this season, having averaged 30.8 rebounds per game. However, it's not like Buckeye Local struggles in that department as they've been averaging 41.1 rebounds per game. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
Oak Glen came up short against Buckeye Local in their previous meeting back in February of 2016, falling 56-45. Can Oak Glen avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
