The Our Lady of Mount Carmel Cougars will face off against the St. Mary's Saints at 5:30 p.m. on Friday. Expect the scorekeeper to be kept busy: if their previous games are any indication, both will really light up the scoreboard.
Our Lady of Mount Carmel took a loss when they played away from home on Saturday, but their home fans gave them all the motivation they needed on Wednesday. They walked away with a 61-48 win over Roland Park Country.
Our Lady of Mount Carmel's success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but Kiersten Rurka led the charge by going 7 for 13 en route to 18 points plus seven assists and six rebounds. The team also got some help courtesy of Caryne Nelson, who went 7 for 17 en route to 19 points.
Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask St. Mary's). They took down St. Timothy's 61-47 on Wednesday. With that victory, the Saints brought their scoring average up to 51.2 points per game.
St. Mary's win was a true team effort, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was Bailey Harris, who went 12 for 17 en route to 28 points plus eight rebounds. That makes it four consecutive games in which Harris has scored at least a third of St. Mary's points. Alexandra Vandiver was another key player, dropping a double-double on 15 points and 11 rebounds.
St. Mary's was working as a unit and finished the game with 21 assists. That's the most assists they've posted since back in November of 2023.
The victory got Our Lady of Mount Carmel back to even at 2-2. As for St. Mary's, the win also got them back to even at 2-2.
Rebounding is likely to be a big factor in this contest: Our Lady of Mount Carmel has been smashing the glass this season, having averaged 27 rebounds per game. However, it's not like St. Mary's struggles in that department as they've been averaging 33.2. With both teams battling to corral missed shots, we'll see if one team can grab an edge.
Our Lady of Mount Carmel was taken down by St. Mary's 64-33 in their previous matchup back in January. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Harris, who dropped a double-double on 22 points and ten rebounds. Now that Our Lady of Mount Carmel knows the damage she can cause, will they be able to stop her this time? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
