South Bend Clay is 0-9 against South Bend Washington since January of 2015 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Friday. The South Bend Clay Colonials will be playing at home against the South Bend Washington Panthers at 7:30 p.m. The timing isn't great for South Bend Clay: they have been struggling with six straight losses at home, while South Bend Washington has snatched up three consecutive wins on the road.
Last Tuesday, South Bend Clay came up short against Concord and fell 35-25. South Bend Clay has struggled against Concord recently, as their matchup on Tuesday was their seventh consecutive lost matchup.
Even though the team lost, they still had their share of impressive performances. One of the most dominant came from Maliya Freeman, who scored 4 points along with 10 rebounds and 3 blocks. She hasn't dropped below eight rebounds for three straight games. The team also got some help courtesy of Delilah Castaneda, who scored 9 points along with 6 rebounds.
Even though they lost, South Bend Clay were smashing the offensive glass and finished the game with 13 offensive rebounds. This was only their eighth loss (out of nine games) when they hit their own glass that hard.
South Bend Washington has made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won five contests by 23 points or more this season. Everything went their way against New Prairie on Thursday as South Bend Washington made off with a 62-39 victory.
Monique Mitchell was her usual excellent self, scoring 21 points along with 8 rebounds and 6 blocks. That makes it two consecutive games in which she has scored at least 25% of South Bend Washington's points. Makyla McNeal was another key contributor, scoring 10 points along with 9 rebounds and 4 steals.
LaVille's victory bumped their season record to 0-0 while South Bend Clay's defeat dropped theirs to 1-10.
This contest is one where the number of possessions is likely to be a big factor: South Bend Clay have been smashing the glass this season, having averaged 30.9 rebounds per game. However, it's not like South Bend Washington struggles in that department as they've been even better at 33.1 per game. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out. Check back here after the action for a full breakdown and analysis of the contest.
South Bend Clay took a serious blow against South Bend Washington in their previous meeting back in December of 2022, falling 91-4. Will South Bend Clay have more luck at home instead of on the road? Come back here after the game to get analysis of the match and other basketball content.
