The Morton Panthers will face off against the Northeast Lauderdale Trojans at 6:00 p.m. on Thursday. Given that both suffered a loss in their last games, they both have a little extra motivation heading into this game.
Morton is coming in off a wild two-game stretch: after soaring to 57 points last Tuesday, they were much more limited against Northwest Rankin on Friday. They lost 43-23 to the Cougars. The match marked the Panthers' lowest-scoring contest so far this season.
Despite the loss, Morton had strong showings from Nazrin Lyles, who posted eight points, and Mariona Boyd, who put up four points and seven rebounds.
Meanwhile, after a string of four wins, Northeast Lauderdale's good fortune finally ran out on Tuesday. They lost to Neshoba Central at home by a 49-33 margin.
Morton will need focus on slowing down Jalei Bolton, one of several Northeast Lauderdale players who made an impact when they last played. She dropped a double-double on ten points and 16 boards. Bolton has been hot, having also posted three or more steals the last six times she's played. Another player making a difference was Jordyn Vaughn, who earned seven points and three steals.
Morton's defeat ended an eight-game streak of away wins dating back to last season and brought them to 5-3. As for Northeast Lauderdale, their loss dropped their record down to 7-3.
Rebounding is likely to be a big factor in this contest: Morton has been smashing the glass this season, having averaged 30.5 rebounds per game. However, it's not like Northeast Lauderdale struggles in that department as they've been averaging 54.8 boards. With both teams battling to corral missed shots, we'll see if one team can grab an edge.
Morton strolled past Northeast Lauderdale when the teams last played back in November by a score of 43-27. The rematch might be a little tougher for Morton since the squad won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
