Van-Far is 0-9 against South Shelby since January of 2015 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Thursday. The Van-Far Indians will be playing in front of their home fans against the South Shelby Cardinals at 6:00 p.m. Van-Far has now lost 15 straight, and the team is hunting for their first win since November 28.
Last Friday, Van-Far came up short against Mark Twain and fell 38-30.
Despite their loss, Van-Far saw several players rise to the challenge and make noteworthy plays. Elliott Utterback, who scored eight points along with four steals, was perhaps the best of all. Another player making a difference was Carmen Wilburn, who scored 15 points along with six rebounds.
Meanwhile, South Shelby can now show off 12 landslide victories after their most recent match on Tuesday. They blew past Brookfield 58-23 at home. Given South Shelby's advantage in MaxPreps' Missouri basketball rankings (they are ranked 53rd, while Brookfield is ranked 341st), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
South Shelby's victory was a true team effort, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was Callie Mcwilliams, who scored 13 points along with eight steals and five assists. Mcwilliams has been hot recently, having posted two or more steals the last ten times she's played. The team also got some help courtesy of Hannah Gaines, who scored 17 points.
Van-Far dropped their record down to 1-16 with that defeat, which was their sixth straight at home. As for South Shelby, they have been performing well recently as they've won 11 of their last 14 games, which provided a nice bump to their 17-5 record this season.
This contest is one where the number of possessions is likely to be a big factor: Van-Far have been smashing the glass this season, having averaged 23.3 rebounds per game. However, it's not like South Shelby struggles in that department as they've been averaging 34.2 rebounds per game. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
Van-Far was dealt a bruising 68-31 defeat at the hands of South Shelby when the teams last played back in January of 2023. Thankfully for Van-Far, Miranda Patterson (who scored 17 points) won't be suiting up this time. Will that be enough to change the final result? There's only one way to find out.
