Basketball Game Preview: Thornton Wildcats vs. Lemont Lemont HS

The Thornton Wildcats will head out on the road to take on the Lemont Lemont HS at 6:00 p.m. on Wednesday. The two teams are strolling into their games after big wins in their previous games.

Thornton is on a roll after a high-stakes playoff matchup on Monday. They put the hurt on Longwood with a sharp 57-36 win. Given the Wildcats' advantage in MaxPreps' Illinois basketball rankings (they are ranked 255th, while the Panthers are ranked 538th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

Kobe Stevenson

Rebounds (Career)

02/24/25 vs Longwood	5
12/27/24 vs Westinghouse	3
12/26/24 vs Kenwood	3
12/20/24 @ Thornridge	3
02/04/25 @ Thornwood	2

Thornton found their leader in sophomore Kobe Stevenson, who to rack up 18 points in addition to five boards and three steals. The dominant performance gave Stevenson a new career-high in rebounds. Another player making a difference was Deandre Higgs, who dropped a double-double with 15 points and 13 boards.

Meanwhile, Lemont came tearing into Thursday's matchup with eight straight wins (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 27.6 points), and they left with even more momentum. They really took it to the Hornets for the full four quarters, racking up a 67-37 victory. The Lemont HS pushed the score to 60-23 by the end of the third, a deficit the Hornets cut but never quite recovered from.

Lemont's win was their fifth straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 23-7. Those victories came thanks in part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 72.2 points over those games. As for Thornton, their victory bumped their record up to 9-20.

Thornton came up short against Lemont in their previous matchup back in March of 2022, falling 56-49. Can Thornton avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.