Basketball Game Preview: Sound Christian Lions vs. North Beach Hyaks

The Sound Christian Lions and the North Beach Hyaks will compete for holiday cheer at 5:00 p.m. on Friday. Both are sauntering into the matchup backed by comfortable wins in their prior games.

Sound Christian's offense will try to repeat the strong performance it gave on Tuesday, when they got past Evergreen Lutheran's usually-dominant defense. Sound Christian simply couldn't be stopped as they easily beat Evergreen Lutheran 59-32. The Lions' victory was nothing new given the team hasn't lost yet this season.

Sound Christian can attribute much of their success to Abby Mesler, who went 11 of 24 en route to 27 points along with seven rebounds and five steals, and Kaila Brogan, who went 9 of 20 en route to 23 points and six rebounds. That makes it three consecutive games in which Mesler has scored at least a third of Sound Christian's points. The team also got some help courtesy of Katherine Tkach, who posted six points.

Meanwhile, North Beach can finally bid farewell to their nine-game losing streak dating back to last season thanks to their game on Thursday. They blew past Lake Quinault, posting a 53-26 win. For those keeping track at home, that's the biggest victory the Hyaks have posted since January 11th.

Sound Christian's win was their fourth straight on the road dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 3-0. They've dominated over that stretch too, winning by an average of 27 points. As for North Beach, their victory (their first of the season) made their record 1-2.

Sound Christian didn't have too much breathing room in their matchup against North Beach in their previous meeting back in January of 2023, but they still walked away with a 29-25 win. Will Sound Christian repeat their success, or does North Beach have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.