Two dominant guards in Emma Simpson and Lillie Graves are getting ready to go toe-to-toe. The Parke Heritage Wolves will venture away from home to challenge the McCutcheon Mavericks at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday. Parke Heritage is strutting in with some offensive muscle as they've averaged 55.5 points per game this season.
Parke Heritage is headed into Saturday's matchup hungry for a win as their strong season has now been derailed by two straight losses. They were dealt a 56-24 defeat at the hands of North Knox on Saturday. The game marked the Wolves' lowest-scoring contest so far this season.
| 01/18/24 @ Fountain Central | 15 |
| 01/31/24 vs Cloverdale | 12 |
| 01/16/24 vs Cloverdale | 11 |
| 12/23/23 vs Northview | 10 |
| 11/10/23 vs North Vermillion | 9 |
Parke Heritage's loss came about despite a quality game from Addison Jenkins, who posted eight points. That's the most points Jenkins has posted since back in February of 2024.
Meanwhile, McCutcheon hadn't done well against Benton Central recently (they were 2-7 in their previous nine matchups), but they didn't let the past get in their way on Thursday. McCutcheon strolled past Benton Central with points to spare, taking the game 44-28. Given the Mavericks' advantage in MaxPreps' Indiana basketball rankings (they are ranked 15th, while the Bison are ranked 109th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
McCutcheon found their leader in sophomore Graves, who went 7 of 16 on her way to 17 points and four steals. The team also got some help courtesy of Ameria Gibson, who put up eight points and four steals.
McCutcheon smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 18 offensive boards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least eight offensive rebounds in 22 consecutive matches dating back to last season.
Parke Heritage's defeat dropped their record down to 13-2. As for McCutcheon, their record now sits at 16-3.
Some high-performance offense is likely on the agenda as both are some of the highest scoring teams in the league. Parke Heritage hasn't had any problem running up the score this season, having averaged 55.5 points per game. However, it's not like McCutcheon struggles in that department as they've been averaging 59.9 points. With both teams so easily able to put up points, the only question left is who can run the score up higher.
Parke Heritage suffered a grim 74-51 defeat to McCutcheon when the teams last played back in November of 2023. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Graves, who went 16 of 26 on her way to 39 points in addition to eight steals and seven assists. Now that Parke Heritage knows the damage she can cause, will they be able to stop her this time? There's only one way to find out.
