The Evansville Central Bears will square off against the Corydon Central Panthers at 3:00 p.m. on Saturday. One thing working in Evansville Central's favor is that they have posted at least 55 points in their last 11 contests.
Evansville Central is on a roll after a high-stakes playoff matchup on Saturday. They walked away with a 56-49 win over Evansville Memorial. Given the Bears' advantage in MaxPreps' Indiana basketball rankings (they are ranked 21st, while the Tigers are ranked 150th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Madalynn Shirley
| 02/08/25 vs Evansville Memorial | 20 |
| 02/07/25 vs Mt. Vernon | 15 |
| 02/04/25 vs Boonville | 21 |
| 01/29/25 vs Castle | 35 |
| 01/25/25 @ South Knox | 25 |
| + 11 more games |
Evansville Central's victory was a true team effort, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was Madalynn Shirley, who dropped a double-double with 20 points and ten rebounds. The match was Shirley's 16th in a row with at least 15 points. Another player making a difference was Olivya Hile, who went 7 of 8 to rack up 18 points and six boards.
Meanwhile, Corydon Central hadn't done well against Silver Creek recently (they were 1-8 in their previous nine matchups), but they didn't let the past get in their way on Saturday. Corydon Central took down Silver Creek 52-38. Winning may never get old, but the Panthers sure are getting used to it with their fourth in a row.
Corydon Central's win came from a few key players Evansville Central will need to keep an eye on. One of the most notable was Alyssa Murphy, who posted 12 points along with eight rebounds and three steals. The team also got some help courtesy of Josie Vaughn, who put up 12 points.
Corydon Central smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 14 offensive boards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least eight offensive rebounds in four consecutive games.
Evansville Central is on a roll lately: they've won 16 of their last 17 contests, which provided a nice bump to their 22-4 record this season. A key ingredient in that success has been their performance when it comes to three-point shooting accuracy: their three-point shooting accuracy was 37.6% in those games and 28.6% outside of them. As for Corydon Central, their record now sits at 20-5.
Rebounding is likely to be a big factor in this contest: Evansville Central has been crashing the boards this season, having averaged 30.2 boards per game. However, it's not like Corydon Central struggles in that department as they've been averaging 30.6 rebounds. With both teams battling to corral missed shots, we'll see if one team can grab an edge.
Evansville Central was able to grind out a solid win over Corydon Central when the teams last played back in November of 2024, winning 53-42. Will Evansville Central repeat their success, or does Corydon Central have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
