Preview: Lake Central Indians vs. South Bend Washington Panthers
Lake Central and South Bend Washington are an even 3-3 against one another since January of 2017, but not for long. The two teams will face off at 4:00 p.m. on February 10th without much rest after finishing up games yesterday. Lake Central is looking to tack on another W to their ten-game streak on the road dating back to last season.
With a playoff game on the line, Lake Central rose to the challenge on Saturday. They walked away with a 51-39 win over the Pirates. Given Lake Central's advantage in MaxPreps' Indiana basketball rankings (they are ranked 14th, while Merrillville is ranked 63rd), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Vanessa Wimberly continued her habit of posting crazy stat lines, scoring 19 points. Aniyah Bishop was another key contributor, scoring 11 points along with eight rebounds.
In what's become a running theme this season, South Bend Washington gave their fans yet another huge win on Saturday. They took their contest on the road with ease, bagging a 77-45 victory over South Bend Adams. Winning may never get old, but South Bend Washington sure is getting used to it with their sixth in a row.
It was another big night for Kira Reynolds, who dropped a triple-double on 24 points, 18 rebounds, and 16 blocks. She hasn't dropped below eight rebounds for 13 straight games. Another player making a difference was Ryiah Wilson, who scored 15 points along with six steals.
Lake Central has been performing incredibly well recently as they've won 11 of their last 12 contests, which provided a nice bump to their 23-4 record this season. As for South Bend Washington, their victory bumped their record up to 19-4.
Lake Central couldn't quite finish off South Bend Washington in their previous meeting back in November of 2023 and fell 50-47. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Reynolds, who dropped a double-double on 28 points and ten rebounds. Now that Lake Central knows the damage she can cause, will they be able to stop her this time? There's only one way to find out.
