Basketball Game Preview: Cove Leopards vs. Prairie City/Burnt River

The Cove Leopards will wrap up 2024 with a road trip to face off against Prairie City/Burnt River at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday. Cove will be strutting in after a victory while Prairie City/Burnt River will be coming in after a defeat.

Last Saturday, Cove was able to grind out a solid win over Powder Valley, taking the game 58-48. Given the Leopards' advantage in MaxPreps' Oregon basketball rankings (they are ranked 74th, while the Badgers are ranked 216th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

Meanwhile, after soaring to 58 points the game before, Prairie City/Burnt River was a bit more limited in their contest on Saturday. They were beaten by Adrian 55-23. The game marked Prairie City/Burnt River's lowest-scoring match so far this season.

Cove has been performing well recently as they've won five of their last six contests, which provided a nice bump to their 7-3 record this season. Those victories came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 57.8 points per game. As for Prairie City/Burnt River, they moved to 4-4 with that loss, which also ended their four-game winning streak.

Cove strolled past Prairie City/Burnt River when the teams last played back in December of 2023 by a score of 62-47. Will Cove repeat their success, or does Prairie City/Burnt River have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.