Deshler and Kenesaw are an even 5-5 against one another since January of 2017, but not for long. The Deshler Dragons will take on the Kenesaw Blue Devils at 6:00 p.m. on Thursday.
Deshler is probably headed into the contest with a chip on their shoulder considering Superior just ended the team's four-game winning streak on Tuesday. They lost 49-27 to the Wildcats. While losing is never fun, the Dragons can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Nebraska basketball rankings (they are ranked 163rd, while the Wildcats are ranked 38th).
Meanwhile, Kenesaw hadn't done well against Pleasanton recently (they were 1-8 in their previous nine matchups), but they didn't let the past get in their way on Saturday. Kenesaw strolled past Pleasanton with points to spare, taking the game 56-37. The Blue Devils pushed the score to 45-25 by the end of the third, a deficit the Bulldogs cut but never quite recovered from.
Kenesaw's win came from a few key players Deshler will need to keep an eye on. One of the most notable was Sophia Schukei, who went 7 for 14 en route to 15 points and five rebounds. The dominant performance gave her a new career-high in points. Another player making a difference was Elise Schukei, who went 5 of 9 on her way to 10 points.
Kenesaw was working as a unit and finished the game with 16 assists. The team's really been improving in that area: they've now improved their assist total in three consecutive matches.
Kenesaw is on a roll lately: they've won five of their last six games, which provided a nice bump to their 9-7 record this season. The wins came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 51.7 points per game. As for Deshler, their defeat dropped their record down to 8-7.
Deshler didn't have too much breathing room in their contest against Kenesaw in their previous meeting back in January of 2024, but they still walked away with a 40-35 victory. The rematch might be a little tougher for Deshler since the team won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
