The Shenandoah Raiders will wrap up 2023 with a road trip to face off against the Liberty Christian Lions at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. Hopefully Shenandoah focused on turnovers this week since the team gave up 11 on Saturday.
Last Saturday, it was close, but Shenandoah ultimately received the gift of a 46-44 victory from a begrudging Raiderssquad. Given their advantage in MaxPreps' Indiana basketball rankings (they are ranked 165th, while Evansville Day is ranked 351st), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Shenandoah found their leader in underclassman Jonny Howard, who went 6 for 12 from beyond the arc en route to 24 points and 5 assists. Those five assists set a new season-high mark for him. The team also got some help courtesy of Zane Mitchell, who scored six points along with six assists.
Meanwhile, winning is just a little bit easier when you work as a team to rack up eight more assists than your opponent, a fact Liberty Christian proved on Wednesday. They walked away with a 64-54 win over Phalen Leadership Academy.
Liberty Christian's success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but Tamarje English led the charge by scoring 19 points along with seven rebounds. Another player making a difference was Devon Kelley, who scored 17 points along with nine rebounds.
Shenandoah's record now sits at 7-3. As for Liberty Christian, they now have a winning record of 5-4.
Keep an eye on the arc in Friday's game: Shenandoah have made nailing deep shots look easy this year this season, having only averaged 4.3 threes per game. It's a different story for Liberty Christian, though, as they've been averaging only 4.2 threes per game. Given Shenandoah's sizeable advantage in that area, Liberty Christian will need to find a way to close that gap.
Shenandoah was taken down by Liberty Christian 68-25 in their previous matchup back in December of 2022. Thankfully for Shenandoah, Cedric Anderson (who scored 20 points along with six rebounds and five steals) won't be suiting up this time. Will that be enough to change the final result? There's only one way to find out.
