Elyria Catholic is 5-0 against Buckeye since February of 2016, and they'll have a chance to extend that success on Saturday. The Elyria Catholic Panthers will be playing at home against the Buckeye Bucks at 11:00 a.m. The teams are on pretty different trajectories at the moment (Elyria Catholic has three straight victories, Buckeye has three straight losses), but none of that matters once you're on the field.
Last Monday, Elyria Catholic beat Brunswick 52-41.
Isabelle Niederst was her usual excellent self, dropping a double-double on 26 points and 11 rebounds. That makes it three consecutive games in which she has scored at least a third of Elyria Catholic's points. Another player making a difference was Camara Ogletree, who scored eight points along with nine rebounds and four steals.
Meanwhile, Buckeye came up short against Lutheran West on Wednesday and fell 55-42.
Kwynn Czerwony put forth a good effort for the losing side as she dropped a double-double on 22 points and 12 rebounds. The team also got some help courtesy of Ruby Hudak, who scored seven points.
Even though they lost, Buckeye were working as a unit and finished the game with 12 assists. That's the most assists they've managed all season.
Elyria Catholic is on a roll lately: they've won five of their last six contests, which provided a nice bump to their 11-4 record this season. As for Buckeye, their defeat was their fifth straight at home dating back to last season, which bumped their record down to 1-14.
Saturday's matchup is shaping up to be a scrappy match: Elyria Catholic have been smashing the glass this season, having only averaged 31 rebounds per game. It's a different story for Buckeye, though, as they've been averaging only 26.9 rebounds per game. Given Elyria Catholic's sizeable advantage in that area, Buckeye will need to find a way to close that gap.
Everything went Elyria Catholic's way against Buckeye in their previous meeting back in January of 2021 as Elyria Catholic made off with a 57-37 win. Does Elyria Catholic have another victory up their sleeve, or will Buckeye turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.
