The Payson Lions will head out on the road to face off against the Brighton Bengals at 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday. Both are strolling into their contests after big wins in their previous games.
Payson is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another highly-ranked state team: Spring Valley, who was ranked 18th in their home state at the time (Payson was ranked fifth). Payson took their game last Saturday with ease, bagging a 68-36 win over Spring Valley. The victory was nothing new for the Lions as they're now sitting on three straight.
Emmy Hales continued her habit of posting crazy stat lines, shooting 5-for-8 from deep and dropping a double-double on 24 points and 11 boards. That makes it three consecutive games in which she has scored at least a third of Payson's points. Another player making a difference was Quincey Mathews, who posted 13 points in addition to six boards and five assists.
Payson was working as a unit and finished the game with 23 assists. That's the most assists they've managed all season.
Meanwhile, everything came up roses for Brighton against Cyprus last Thursday as the team secured a 60-26 win. The Bengals have made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won three matches by 23 points or more this season.
Payson better keep an eye on Lucy Chin. She was instrumental in Brighton's win, going 7 of 15 on her way to 19 points along with six steals and five boards. The dominant performance gave Chin a new career-high in steals. The team also got some help courtesy of Sophie Nielsen, who almost dropped a double-double on nine boards and nine assists.
Payson pushed their record up to 8-1 with the victory, which was their ninth straight at home dating back to last season. Those victories came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 60.4 points per game. As for Brighton, they are on a roll lately: they've won three of their last four contests, which provided a nice bump to their 6-4 record this season.
Keep an eye on the arc in Tuesday's game: Payson has been dynamite from deep this season, having made 37.2% of their three-pointers per game. It's a different story for Brighton, though, as they've only made 24% of their three-pointers this season. Given Payson's sizable advantage in that area, Brighton will need to find a way to close that gap.
Payson came up short against Brighton when the teams last played back in December of 2023, falling 53-47. Can Payson avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
