Two dominant players in Bria Bench and Jordyn Ratzlaff are getting ready to go toe-to-toe. The Fort Calhoun Pioneers and the Howells-Dodge Jaguars will face off at 4:30 p.m. on December 29th without much rest after finishing up games yesterday. Fort Calhoun has been dominant on offense recently, as they've racked up an incredible 190 points over their last three contests.
Last Tuesday, Fort Calhoun humbled Ralston with a 65-26 victory. For those curious, yes, that was the biggest victory Fort Calhoun has managed all season.
Fort Calhoun can attribute much of their success to Bench, who scored 13 points along with six steals and five rebounds, and Raeann Massey, who scored 19 points along with three steals. That makes it three consecutive games in which Massey has scored at least 25% of Fort Calhoun's points. Another player making a difference was Ansley Elofson, who scored 12 points along with seven steals.
Meanwhile, Howells-Dodge struggled with offensive rebounds last Saturday (Clarkson/Leigh had eight more) and sadly the final score reflected it. Howells-Dodge took a hard 50-34 fall against Clarkson/Leigh. Howells-Dodge has not had much luck with Clarkson/Leigh recently, as the team's come up short the last eight times they've met.
Despite the defeat, Howells-Dodge saw an underclassman step up: Kenadie Throener scored eight points. The team also got some help courtesy of Natalie Pieper, who scored three points.
Fort Calhoun's win bumped their record up to 5-2. As for Howells-Dodge, their defeat ended a five-game streak of wins at home dating back to last season and dropped them to 4-4.
Friday's matchup is one where the number of possessions is likely to be a big factor: Fort Calhoun have been smashing the glass this season, having only averaged 34.7 rebounds per game. It's a different story for Howells-Dodge, though, as they've been averaging only 24.5 rebounds per game. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out. Come back here after the game to get analysis of the match and other basketball content.
