Joliet West is 9-1 against the Bengals since February of 2019, and they'll have a chance to extend that success on Tuesday. The Joliet West Tigers will look to defend their home court against the Plainfield East Bengals at 6:30 p.m. Given that the two teams suffered a loss in their last game, they both have a little extra motivation heading into this contest.
Joliet West's recent rough patch got a bit rougher on Thursday after their third straight loss. They ended up on the wrong side of a rough 74-49 walloping at the hands of Romeoville. While losing is never fun, Joliet West can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Illinois basketball rankings (they are ranked 161st, while the Spartans are ranked 42nd).
Meanwhile, Plainfield East struggled with offensive rebounds on Thursday (the Cougars had ten more) and sadly the final score reflected it. Plainfield East fell 66-54 to the Cougars.
Plainfield East might have lost, but man, Lexi Sepulveda was a machine: she scored 19 points along with eight rebounds and two steals. That was a full 35.2% of Plainfield East's points, marking the eighth time in a row she's earned more than a third of the team's points. Addie Haughian was another key contributor, scoring 13 points.
Joliet West's defeat dropped their record down to 13-12. As for Plainfield East, they have been struggling recently as they've lost 14 of their last 18 matchups, which put a noticeable dent in their 8-17 record this season.
Joliet West didn't have too much breathing room in their match against the Bengals in their previous meeting back in December of 2023, but they still walked away with a 70-64 win. One of the biggest obstacles the team faced in that game was Sepulveda, who scored 47 points along with six rebounds and three steals. Now that she's got a second chance to win this matchup, will Joliet West still be able to contain Sepulveda? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
