Preview: Hesston Swathers vs. Garden Plain Owls
Hesston is 6-0 against Garden Plain since December of 2014, and they'll have a chance to extend that success on Thursday. The Hesston Swathers will look to defend their home court against the Garden Plain Owls at 7:30 p.m. Hopefully Hesston focused on turnovers this week since the team gave up 12 on Tuesday.
Winning is just a little bit easier when you outrebound your opponent 8 to 1 on the offensive boards, a fact Hesston proved. They blew past Nickerson 57-33. With that win, Hesston brought their scoring average up to 53 points per game.
Hesston's success was spearheaded by the efforts of Adrian Hernandez, who scored 20 points, and Reed Friesen, who scored 15 points along with 9 rebounds and 3 steals. That makes it two consecutive games in which Hernandez has scored at least 25% of Hesston's points. Another player making a difference was Asher Deutschendorf, who scored 8 points.
Meanwhile, Garden Plain was within striking distance but couldn't close the gap on Tuesday as they fell 44-38 to Rose Hill. Garden Plain has struggled against Rose Hill recently, as their game on Tuesday was their fourth consecutive lost matchup.
The opposite results left the teams with opposite records: Hesston's victory pushed their record up to 2-0, while Nickerson's defeat dropped theirs down to 0-2.
Everything came up roses for Hesston against Garden Plain in their previous matchup back in December of 2022 as the squad secured a 62-30 victory. Will Hesston repeat their success, or does Garden Plain have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
