A feisty cat fight will be fought when the Paulding Panthers challenge the Jefferson Wildcats at 6:30 p.m. on Monday... Both come into the match bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
While Paulding didn't have the best season last year (they finished 10-14), it's starting to look like those struggles are a thing of the past. They walked away with a 46-34 victory over Holgate on Saturday. Given the Panthers' advantage in MaxPreps' Ohio basketball rankings (they are ranked 191st, while the Tigers are ranked 720th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
| 12/21/24 @ Holgate | 7 |
| 01/13/24 vs Bluffton | 6 |
| 02/13/24 @ Defiance | 5 |
| 12/05/23 @ Lincolnview | 4 |
| 12/19/23 vs Holgate | 3 |
Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead Paulding to victory, but perhaps none more so than Addi Pease, who posted six points in addition to seven steals and six assists. The dominant performance gave Pease a new career-high in steals. The team also got some help courtesy of Tori Schlatter, who had 11 points and three steals.
Paulding smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 11 offensive boards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least nine offensive rebounds in seven consecutive games.
Meanwhile, Jefferson earned a 32-23 win over Van Wert on Monday.
Paulding's victory bumped their record up to 6-1. As for Jefferson, they now have a winning record of 5-4.
Paulding took a serious blow against Jefferson in their previous matchup back in February, falling 61-34. That contest was all but decided by halftime, at which point Paulding was down 30-9.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
