Basketball Game Preview: Panther Creek Panthers vs. Van Alstyne Panthers

The Panther Creek Panthers will head out to challenge the Van Alstyne Panthers at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. The teams are on pretty different trajectories at the moment (Panther Creek has seven straight wins, Van Alstyne has eight straight defeats), but none of that matters once you're on the court.

It was a proper cat-fight when Panther Creek duked it out withCelina on Tuesday. Panther Creek walked away with a 71-62 victory over Celina. The score was all tied up 30-30 at the break, but the Panthers were the better team in the second half.

Meanwhile, Van Alstyne didn't have quite enough to beat Aubrey on Tuesday and fell 56-54. While losing is never fun, the Panthers can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Texas basketball rankings (they are ranked 762nd, while the Chaparrals are ranked 171st).

Panther Creek pushed their record up to 22-8 with the win, which was their sixth straight at home. The wins came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 71.2 points per game. As for Van Alstyne, their loss dropped their record down to 7-22.

Everything came up roses for Panther Creek against Van Alstyne when the teams last played on January 7th, as the team secured a 75-39 victory. In that matchup, Panther Creek amassed a halftime lead of 35-11, an impressive feat they'll look to repeat on Friday.