Preview: Mountain Ridge Sentinels vs. Bingham Miners
Two dominant guards in Kya Newton and Addy Horsley are getting ready to go toe-to-toe. The Mountain Ridge Sentinels will head out on the road to challenge the Bingham Miners at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday. Mountain Ridge is coming into the matchup on a three-game losing streak.
Last Tuesday, Mountain Ridge faced Copper Hills in a battle between two of the state's top teams. Mountain Ridge was dealt a 71-42 defeat at the hands of Copper Hills. Mountain Ridge was down 55-31 at the end of the third quarter, and things only got worse from there.
The loss doesn't tell the whole story though, as several players had good games. One of the most active was Ava Blair, who scored seven points. Another player making a difference was Jessica Maynard, who scored four points along with five rebounds.
Meanwhile, it may have taken overtime to finish the job, but Bingham ultimately got the result they hoped for on Tuesday. They walked away with a 66-54 win over Riverton. Given Bingham's advantage in MaxPreps' Utah basketball rankings (they are ranked ninth, while Riverton is ranked 75th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Bingham can attribute much of their success to Horsley, who scored 22 points along with two steals, and Brianna Badonie, who scored 28 points along with two steals. Kate Nelson was another key contributor, scoring four points along with ten rebounds and two steals.
Mountain Ridge has not been sharp recently as the team's lost five of their last six matchups, which put a noticeable dent in their 12-8 record this season. As for Bingham, they pushed their record up to 13-7 with that win, which was their third straight at home.
This contest is one where the number of possessions is likely to be a big factor: Mountain Ridge have been smashing the glass this season, having averaged 26.6 rebounds per game. However, it's not like Bingham struggles in that department as they've been averaging 30.2 rebounds per game. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
Mountain Ridge couldn't quite finish off Bingham in their previous meeting back in January and fell 69-67. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Horsley, who scored 20 points along with three steals. Now that Mountain Ridge knows the damage she can cause, will they be able to stop her this time? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
