Bethel Christian hasn't had much luck against Packinghouse Christian Academy recently, but that could start to change on Thursday. The Bethel Christian Kings will face off against the Packinghouse Christian Academy Bears at 3:00 p.m. After both made easy work of their previous opponents, one won't be so lucky on Thursday.
Bethel Christian is headed into the matchup after thoroughly thrashing Crossroads Christian: they outscored them in every quarter. Everything went Bethel Christian's way against Crossroads Christian on Tuesday as Bethel Christian made off with a 31-6 win. The contest was all but wrapped up at the end of the third, by which point the Kings had established a 20 point advantage.
Leah Lopez
| 01/28/25 vs Crossroads Christian | 23 |
| 01/23/25 @ Norton Science & Language Academy | 16 |
| 12/09/24 vs Entrepreneur | 14 |
| 01/25/25 vs Hamilton | 13 |
| 01/14/25 @ The Grove School | 10 |
Bethel Christian found their leader in freshman Leah Lopez, who posted six points along with 23 rebounds and eight steals. The dominant performance gave Lopez a new career-high in boards. Vivianna Lopez was another key player, putting up six points in addition to 12 rebounds and four steals.
Bethel Christian smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 30 offensive rebounds. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least 14 offensive boards in six consecutive games.
Meanwhile, Packinghouse Christian Academy had already won three in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 45.7 points) and they went ahead and made it four last Tuesday. They blew past the Ravens 57-12. With the Bears ahead 25-4 at the half, the matchup was all but over already.
Packinghouse Christian Academy's win came from a few key players Bethel Christian will need to keep an eye on. One of the most notable was Miranda Nordquist, who dropped a double-double on 15 points and 26 boards. She has been hot, having posted ten or more rebounds the last six times she's played. Another player making a difference was Pearl Harry, who dropped a triple-double on 13 points, 13 boards, and 11 assists.
Packinghouse Christian Academy is on a roll lately: they've won ten of their last 12 contests, which provided a nice bump to their 11-5 record this season. Those victories came thanks to their defensive effort, having only surrendered 25.3 points per game. As for Bethel Christian, their victory ended a three-game drought at home and bumped them up to 6-11.
Rebounding is likely to be a big factor in this contest: Bethel Christian has been crashing the rebounds this season, having averaged 36.5 boards per game. However, it's not like Packinghouse Christian Academy struggles in that department as they've been averaging 39.9 rebounds. With both teams battling to corral missed shots, we'll see if one team can grab an edge.
Bethel Christian took a serious blow against Packinghouse Christian Academy when the teams last played on January 7th, falling 59-22. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Harry, who dropped a double-double on 27 points and 12 boards. Now that Bethel Christian knows the damage she can cause, will they be able to stop her this time? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
