The Illiana Christian Vikings struggled with offensive rebounds on Wednesday (the Munster Mustangs had nine more) and sadly the final score reflected it. Illiana Christian's rough 65-42 defeat to Munster might stick with them for a while. While losing is never fun, Illiana Christian can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Indiana basketball rankings (they are ranked 260th, while Munster is ranked 86th).
Illiana Christian's loss shouldn't obscure the performances of Cheyenne DeJong, who scored 14 points along with eight rebounds, and Abbie Ritzema who scored 17 points along with seven rebounds and four steals. Ritzema scored a full 40.5% of Illiana Christian's points, the fourth time in a row she's earned more than a third of the team's points.
Gracyn Gilliard was her usual excellent self, dropping a triple-double on 29 points, 13 rebounds, and ten steals for Munster. The matchup was Gilliard's eighth in a row with at least ten points. Nina Garner was another key contributor, dropping a double-double on 18 points and 12 rebounds.
Illiana Christian's loss dropped their record down to 5-8. As for Munster, they are on a roll lately: they've won three of their last four contests, which provided a nice bump to their 8-3 record this season.
Illiana Christian will be home for the holidays to greet Boone Grove at 7:00 p.m. on Monday. Boone Grove is hoping to put an end to a five-game streak of away losses. As for Munster, they will head out on the road to face off against Hanover Central at 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday. Hopefully Hanover Central focused on turnovers this week since the team gave up 16 on Wednesday.
