The Heritage Hills Patriots will head out on the road to take on the Evansville Christian Eagles at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday. Both come into the contest bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
Heritage Hills is headed into the game after thoroughly thrashing Pike Central: they outscored them in every quarter. Heritage Hills put the hurt on Pike Central with a sharp 35-13 victory on Saturday. Given the Patriots' advantage in MaxPreps' Indiana basketball rankings (they are ranked 128th, while the Chargers are ranked 341st), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Heritage Hills got their win on the backs of several key players, but it was Mayci Litherland out in front who went 5 for 6 on her way to 17 points. The team also got some help courtesy of Hadley Leibering, who posted nine points in addition to six boards and three steals.
Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Evansville Christian). They enjoyed a cozy 58-43 victory over Evansville Bosse on Saturday. That's two games straight that the Eagles have won by exactly 15 points.
Evansville Christian's win came from a few key players Heritage Hills will need to keep an eye on. One of the most notable was Hannah Higgs, who earned eight points along with seven steals and five assists. What's more, she also racked up two blocks, the most she's had since back in December of 2023. Hallie Higgs was another key player, putting up 15 points and eight rebounds.
Evansville Christian smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 28 offensive boards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least eight offensive rebounds in four consecutive matches.
Heritage Hills has been performing well recently as they've won three of their last four contests, which provided a massive bump to their 10-9 record this season. Those victories came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 50.8 points per game. As for Evansville Christian, they pushed their record up to 14-6 with the win, which was their third straight at home.
Rebounding is likely to be a big factor in this contest: Heritage Hills has been crashing the boards this season, having averaged 20.7 rebounds per game. However, it's not like Evansville Christian struggles in that department as they've been averaging 30.5 boards. With both teams battling to corral missed shots, we'll see if one team can grab an edge.
Heritage Hills beat Evansville Christian 46-38 when the teams last played back in January of 2024. The rematch might be a little tougher for Heritage Hills since the squad won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
