Lane Tech is 0-9 against Whitney Young since January of 2018 but things could change on Wednesday. The Lane Tech Champions will venture away from home to challenge the Whitney Young Dolphins at 5:00 p.m. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.
Lane Tech is headed into the game after thoroughly thrashing Orr: they outscored them in every quarter. Given that consistent dominance, it should come as no surprise that Lane Tech blew Orr out of the water with a 68-40 final score. Winning may never get old, but the Champions sure are getting used to it with their fifth in a row.
Lane Tech's success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but Grace Bush led the charge by going 7 for 13 en route to 14 points and six rebounds. The team also got some help courtesy of Sophia Lamperis, who posted ten points and three steals.
Lane Tech was working as a unit and finished the game with 18 assists. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Orr only racked up eight assists.
Meanwhile, you're bound to get a positive result if you outscore your opponent every quarter, and that's exactly how it played out for Whitney Young on Saturday. They blew past Simeon 59-33. Given the Dolphins' advantage in MaxPreps' Illinois basketball rankings (they are ranked 20th, while the Wolverines are ranked 209th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Lane Tech better keep an eye on Destiny Jackson. She was instrumental in Whitney Young's win, almost dropping a double-double with 23 points and nine boards. Jackson's afternoon made it six games in a row in which she has scored at least 16 points. Alana Shields was another key player, putting up five points and five steals.
Whitney Young is on a roll lately: they've won nine of their last ten matchups, which provided a nice bump to their 20-8 record this season. Those victories came thanks in part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 69.7 points over those games. As for Lane Tech, they pushed their record up to 17-11 with the win, which was their third straight at home.
Rebounding is likely to be a big factor in this contest: Lane Tech has been crashing the boards this season, having averaged 35.1 rebounds per game. However, it's not like Whitney Young struggles in that department as they've been averaging 28 boards. With both teams battling to corral missed shots, we'll see if one team can grab an edge.
Lane Tech lost to Whitney Young on the road by a decisive 56-42 margin in their previous meeting back in January. Can Lane Tech avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
