Preview: Eau Claire Immanuel Lutheran Lancers vs. Pepin/Alma
Eau Claire Immanuel Lutheran is 8-2 against Pepin/Alma since February of 2019, and they'll have a chance to extend that success on Thursday. The Eau Claire Immanuel Lutheran Lancers will head out on the road to square off against Pepin/Alma at 7:15 p.m. The teams are on pretty different trajectories at the moment (Eau Claire Immanuel Lutheran has four straight wins, Pepin/Alma has four straight defeats), but none of that matters once you're on the field.
Eau Claire Immanuel Lutheran stacked an eighth blowout win onto their ever-increasing hoard on Tuesday. They simply couldn't be stopped as they easily beat Eleva-Strum 73-39 on the road. Given Eau Claire Immanuel Lutheran's advantage in MaxPreps' Wisconsin basketball rankings (they are ranked 189th, while Eleva-Strum is ranked 476th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Pepin/Alma might be feeling deja-vu: they lost 57-51 to Houston, which was the same score (and result) they got the week prior.
Eau Claire Immanuel Lutheran's win bumped their record up to 13-2. As for Pepin/Alma, they dropped their record down to 10-13 with that defeat, which was their third straight at home.
Eau Claire Immanuel Lutheran took their victory against Pepin/Alma in their previous meeting back in November of 2023 by a conclusive 60-38. The rematch might be a little tougher for Eau Claire Immanuel Lutheran since the squad won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
