The Liberty Union Lions will be home for the holidays to greet the West Muskingum Tornadoes at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday. The squads are rolling into the game with opposing streaks: Liberty Union has struggled recently with three defeats in a row, while West Muskingum will arrive with six straight victories.
Last Tuesday, Liberty Union was within striking distance but couldn't close the gap as they fell 50-45 to Logan Elm.
Despite the loss, Liberty Union got a solid performance out of Ella Brown, who scored 17 points along with five rebounds. That's the first time this season that Brown scored 15 or more points. Another player making a difference was Savannah Howell, who scored four points.
West Muskingum has made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won five contests by 29 points or more this season. They blew past River View 48-19 at home. Given West Muskingum's advantage in MaxPreps' Ohio basketball rankings (they are ranked 159th, while River View is ranked 685th), the result on Wednesday wasn't entirely unexpected.
Liberty Union has traveled a rocky road recently, as they've lost five of their last six matchups, which put a noticeable dent in their 3-5 record this season. As for West Muskingum, their win was their third straight at home, which pushed their record up to 7-1.
Liberty Union came out on top in a nail-biter against West Muskingum in their previous matchup back in January, sneaking past 47-44. Will Liberty Union repeat their success, or does West Muskingum have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
