Basketball Game Preview: Lovejoy Leopards vs. North Lamar Panthers

The Lovejoy Leopards will take on the North Lamar Panthers in a tournament on Friday. Each of these teams will be fighting to keep a win streak alive as Lovejoy comes in on four and North Lamar on five.

Lovejoy will bounce into Friday's match after beating McKinney North, who they had gone 0-9 against in their nine prior meetings. Lovejoy took down McKinney North 57-42 on Friday. Given the Leopards' advantage in MaxPreps' Texas basketball rankings (they are ranked 58th, while the Bulldogs are ranked 369th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

Meanwhile, it was a proper cat-fight when North Lamar faced off against Pottsboro last Friday. North Lamar walked away with a 46-37 victory over Pottsboro.

Lovejoy's win was their fifth straight at home, which pushed their record up to 14-5. Those victories came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 56.4 points per game. As for North Lamar, they are on a roll lately: they've won six of their last eight contests, which provided a nice bump to their 10-6 record this season.

Lovejoy beat North Lamar 41-33 in their previous matchup back in December of 2023. Will Lovejoy repeat their success, or does North Lamar have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.