Basketball Game Preview: York Dukes vs. Northwest Vikings

The York Dukes will head out to square off against the Northwest Vikings at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday. Each of these teams will be fighting to keep a win streak alive as York comes in on six and Northwest on three.

York is headed into the game after thoroughly thrashing Lincoln Northwest: they outscored them in every quarter. York blew past Lincoln Northwest 48-23 on Thursday. Given the Dukes' advantage in MaxPreps' Nebraska basketball rankings (they are ranked 33rd, while the Falcons are ranked 263rd), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

Lainey Portwine had an outrageously good game as she posted 12 points in addition to seven boards and seven steals. She has been hot recently, having posted four or more steals the last three times she's played. The team also got some help courtesy of Chloe Koch, who had 12 points and eight rebounds.

York smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 19 offensive boards. That's the most offensive rebounds they've posted since back in January of 2024.

Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Northwest). They took their match on Friday with ease, bagging a 65-32 win over Lakeview. The contest was pretty much decided by the half, when the score had already reached 39-7.

York pushed their record up to 8-1 with the victory, which was their fifth straight at home dating back to last season. The wins came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 51.8 points per game. As for Northwest, they have been performing well recently as they've won five of their last six games, which provided a nice bump to their 7-3 record this season.

York strolled past Northwest in their previous meeting back in January of 2024 by a score of 50-31. Does York have another victory up their sleeve, or will Northwest turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.