Preview: New Prairie Cougars vs. South Bend Washington Panthers
New Prairie is 1-9 against South Bend Washington since January of 2016 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Thursday. The New Prairie Cougars will head out on the road to face off against the South Bend Washington Panthers at 6:30 p.m. New Prairie will be coming into the matchup with an undefeated record on the line.
New Prairie has made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won four contests by 21 points or more this season. They blew past South Bend Clay, posting a 57-28 win on the road. Given New Prairie's advantage in MaxPreps' Indiana basketball rankings (they are ranked 41st, while South Bend Clay is ranked 349th), the result last Tuesday wasn't entirely unexpected.
New Prairie can attribute much of their success to Jolie Johns, who scored 15 points along with 5 rebounds and 3 steals, and Jayden Flagg, who scored 17 points along with 6 rebounds and 6 steals. That makes it three consecutive games in which Johns has scored at least 25% of New Prairie's points. The team also got some help courtesy of Morgan White, who scored 9 points along with 5 assists.
Meanwhile, South Bend Washington pushed their score all the way to 58 on Saturday, but even that wasn't enough to win. They fell to Jennings County 62-58. South Bend Washington's defeat signaled the end of their five-game winning streak.
Even though the team lost, they still had their share of impressive performances. One of the most dominant came from Ryiah Wilson, who scored 19 points along with 6 steals and 5 assists. The match was her fifth in a row with at least ten points. Another player making a difference was Monique Mitchell, who dropped a double-double on 16 points and 11 rebounds.
New Prairie's win was their fourth straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 8-0. Those good results were due in large part to their offensive dominance across that stretch, as they averaged 62.3 points per game. As for South Bend Washington, their loss dropped their record down to 6-2.
New Prairie took a serious blow against South Bend Washington in their previous meeting back in December of 2022, falling 103-67. Can New Prairie avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
