Basketball Game Preview: Lutheran Lions vs. Palmer Ridge Bears

The Lutheran Lions are taking a road trip to challenge the Palmer Ridge Bears at 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday. The two teams are strolling into their matches after big wins in their previous games.

Lutheran is headed into the game after thoroughly thrashing Cheyenne Mountain: they outscored them in every quarter. Given that consistent dominance, it should come as no surprise that Lutheran blew Cheyenne Mountain out of the water with a 54-18 final score. The contest was pretty much decided by the half, when the score had already reached 35-8.

Meanwhile, Palmer Ridge had already won two in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 27 points) and they went ahead and made it three on Thursday. Everything went their way against the Thunder as they made off with a 59-38 win. The Bears have made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won six matchups by 21 points or more this season.

Lutheran better focus on containing Addison Steenland and Annaliese Bossinger as the pair were huge in Palmer Ridge's win. Steenland went 6 of 11 en route to 14 points and three steals, while Bossinger posted 11 points in addition to eight boards and three steals. Steenland is on a roll when it comes to steals, as she's now grabbed three or more in the last three games she's played. The team also got some help courtesy of Corinna Arellano, who put up six points and three steals.

Palmer Ridge smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 13 offensive boards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least eight offensive rebounds in four consecutive games.

Palmer Ridge's victory was their fourth straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 9-2. Those victories came thanks to their defensive effort, having only surrendered 24.0 points per game. As for Lutheran, they moved to 4-8 with that win, which also ended their three-game losing streak.

Everything came up roses for Lutheran against Palmer Ridge in their previous meeting back in February of 2024, as the squad secured a 41-12 victory. In that contest, Lutheran amassed a halftime lead of 29-2, an impressive feat they'll look to repeat on Wednesday.