Basketball Game Preview: Shadle Park Highlanders vs. Mead Panthers

The Shadle Park Highlanders will venture away from home to challenge the Mead Panthers at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Shadle Park has a tough task ahead: they'll enter the match with seven straight losses, while Mead will come in with four straight wins.

Last Tuesday, Shadle Park was within striking distance but couldn't close the gap as they fell 60-54 to Ferris. While the Highlanders didn't get the win, they did start the game off strong, beating the Saxons 12-8 in the first quarter.

Meanwhile, Mead didn't have too much breathing room in their contest against Ridgeline on Tuesday, but they still walked away with a 61-57 victory. Given the Panthers' advantage in MaxPreps' Washington basketball rankings (they are ranked 38th, while the Falcons are ranked 156th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

Mead is also on a roll lately: they've won eight of their last nine games, which provided a nice bump to their 13-4 record this season. Those victories came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 70.8 points per game. As for Shadle Park, their defeat dropped their record down to 3-14.

Shadle Park suffered a grim 64-44 defeat to Mead when the teams last played back in December of 2021. Can Shadle Park avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.