Two dominant guards in Misa Garris and Brooklyn Saunders are getting ready to go toe-to-toe. The Garinger Wildcats will be staying on the road on Friday to face off against the Butler Bulldogs at 6:00 p.m. on January 26th. Given that both teams suffered a loss in their last game, they both have a little extra motivation heading into this game.
Garinger suffered their biggest loss since December 15, 2023 on Tuesday. They were beaten by Providence 60-30. Garinger has struggled against Providence recently, as their contest on Tuesday was their seventh consecutive lost matchup.
Despite the loss, Garinger saw an underclassman step up: Garris scored 13 points along with two steals. Garris has been hot recently, having posted two or more steals the last three times she's played. Another player making a difference was Imonee Patterson, who scored two points along with three steals.
Garinger struggled to get the ball back on offense and finished the game with only two offensive rebounds. That's the fewest offensive rebounds they've managed all season.
Meanwhile, Butler had to suffer through a rough 67-34 loss at the hands of Independence. The result shouldn't come as a shock considering that's the fewest points Butler has scored all season.
Garinger's loss was their third straight on the road, which dropped their record down to 11-7. Those losses could be blamed on the team's offensive performance across that stretch, as they only averaged 25.3 points per game. As for Butler, this is the second loss in a row for them and nudges their season record down to 10-6.
Garinger came up short against Butler when the teams last played back in December of 2023, falling 53-45. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Saunders, who scored 35 points along with nine rebounds and five steals. Now that Garinger knows the damage she can cause, will they be able to stop her this time? There's only one way to find out.
