Preview: Hamilton Marines vs. Bethany Christian Bruins
Hamilton is 1-6 against Bethany Christian since January of 2015 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Friday. The Hamilton Marines will wrap up 2023 with a road trip to face off against the Bethany Christian Bruins at 10:00 a.m. Hamilton is hoping to put an end to a four-game streak of away losses dating back to last season.
Two weeks ago, Hamilton had to suffer through a rough 66-10 loss at the hands of Lakewood Park Christian. The result shouldn't come as a shock considering that's the fewest points Hamilton has scored all season.
Meanwhile, winning is just a little bit easier when you outrebound your opponent 19 to 4 on the offensive boards, a fact Bethany Christian proved on Thursday. They had just enough and edged Argos out 46-44. Given Bethany Christian's advantage in MaxPreps' Indiana basketball rankings (they are ranked 98th, while Argos is ranked 271st), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Zoe Willems and Mariah Stoltzfus were among the main playmakers for Bethany Christian as the former scored 13 points along with eight rebounds and five assists and the latter scored 19 points along with four steals. That makes it five consecutive games in which Willems has scored at least 25% of Bethany Christian's points. The team also got some help courtesy of Karlee Crume, who scored seven points along with six rebounds.
Hamilton's defeat dropped their record down to 2-4. As for Bethany Christian, the victory makes it two in a row for them and bumps their season record up to 11-1.
Hamilton was dealt a bruising 54-15 defeat at the hands of Bethany Christian when the teams last played back in January of 2022. Can Hamilton avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
