Basketball Game Preview: Elmira Express vs. Corning-Painted Post Hawks

The Elmira Express will face off against the Corning-Painted Post Hawks at 7:15 p.m. on Thursday. Elmira is strutting in with some offensive muscle as they've averaged 54.8 points per game this season.

Last Monday, Elmira ended up a good deal behind Binghamton and lost 73-58. Despite running the score up even higher than they did in their prior game last Wednesday (56), the Express still had to take the loss.

Mariah Matias

Rebounds

02/10/25 @ Binghamton	11
02/05/25 @ Ithaca	11
02/01/25 vs Vestal	18
01/27/25 @ Chenango Valley	14
01/25/25 vs Horseheads	12
+ 11 more games

Elmira's defeat shouldn't obscure the performances of Addison Taft, who went 8-for-13 on her way to 19 points, and Mariah Matias, who dropped a double-double with 20 points and 11 boards. Matias is crushing it when it comes to rebounds: she's pulled down at least eight every time she's taken the court this season. Another player making a difference was Ashaya Wallace, who posted eight points in addition to five boards and five steals.

Meanwhile, Corning-Painted Post was not able to break out of their rough patch last Wednesday as the team picked up their seventh straight loss. They came up short against Horseheads, falling 59-39. While losing is never fun, the Hawks can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' New York basketball rankings (they are ranked 410th, while the Blue Raiders are ranked 67th).

Elmira's defeat ended a three-game streak of away wins and brought them to 12-4. As for Corning-Painted Post, their loss dropped their record down to 1-9.

Elmira didn't have too much breathing room in their contest against Corning-Painted Post when the teams last played back in January, but they still walked away with a 51-47 win. Will Elmira repeat their success, or does Corning-Painted Post have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.