Basketball Game Preview: Johnson City Wildcats vs. Wallkill Panthers

A feisty cat fight is on tap when the Johnson City Wildcats challenge the Wallkill Panthers at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday... Johnson City will be looking to extend their current four-game winning streak.

Last Wednesday, Johnson City didn't have too much breathing room in their contest against Vestal, but they still walked away with a 41-37 victory. The 41-point effort marked the Wildcats' lowest-scoring matchup of the season, but in the end it didn't matter.

Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead Johnson City to victory, but perhaps none more so than Aliya Hankey, who dropped a double-double on 14 points and ten boards. Hankey continues to improve, besting her previous point total in each of the last three games she's played. Emery Guzyk was another key player, putting up 13 points and three steals.

Johnson City smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 13 offensive boards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least nine offensive rebounds in ten consecutive games.

Meanwhile, Wallkill earned a 57-50 win over Roosevelt on Thursday. The victory was all the more spectacular given the Panthers' disadvantage in MaxPreps' New York basketball rankings (they are ranked 211th, while the Presidents are ranked 68th).

Wallkill is also on a roll lately: they've won three of their last four contests, which provided a massive bump to their 5-5 record this season. The wins came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 57.3 points per game. As for Johnson City, they pushed their record up to 8-2 with the win, which was their fourth straight on the road.

Johnson City came up short against Wallkill in their previous matchup back in January of 2024, falling 60-48. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Wallkill's Zoe Mesuch, who went 9 for 18 en route to 22 points in addition to six rebounds and three steals. Now that Johnson City knows the damage she can cause, will they be able to stop her this time? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.