Northern Valley has enjoyed the comforts of home their last two games, but now they'll head out on the road. They will face off against the Thunder Ridge Longhorns at 6:00 p.m. on Friday. Hopefully Northern Valley focused on turnovers this week since the team gave up 14 on Tuesday.
Winning is just a little bit easier when you outrebound your opponent 16 to 9 on the offensive boards, a fact Northern Valley proved. They beat Logan/Palco by the very same score they won with last week: 54-43.
Northern Valley got their win on the backs of several key players, but it was Austyn Cox out in front who dropped a double-double on 16 points and 11 rebounds. The matchup was Cox's fifth in a row with at least ten points. Mary Baird was another key contributor, dropping a double-double on 12 points and 11 rebounds.
Meanwhile, Thunder Ridge had already won two in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 11 points), and they went ahead and made it three on Tuesday. They took their match at home with ease, bagging a 49-13 win over Natoma. Given Thunder Ridge's advantage in MaxPreps' Kansas basketball rankings (they are ranked 94th, while Natoma is ranked 269th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Northern Valley's record now sits at 2-4. Thunder Ridge's record is now 3-0.
Northern Valley suffered a grim 51-25 defeat to Thunder Ridge in their previous meeting back in March. Can Northern Valley avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
