Van Wert is 2-7 against Shawnee since January of 2015 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Friday. The Van Wert Cougars will be playing in front of their home fans against the Shawnee Indians at 7:30 p.m. Van Wert is coming into the game on a six-game losing streak.
Last Saturday, Van Wert ended up a good deal behind Coldwater and lost 49-34. While losing is never fun, Van Wert can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Ohio basketball rankings (they are ranked 567th, while Coldwater is ranked 128th).
Meanwhile, even though Memorial scored an imposing 57 points on Friday, Shawnee still came out on top. Shawnee took their contest against Memorial 69-57. The win was just what Shawnee needed coming off of a 76-56 loss in their prior match.
Shawnee found their leader in underclassman Beckett Bertke, who scored 26 points along with five rebounds. That makes it three consecutive games in which Bertke has scored at least a third of Shawnee's points. Trevick Bertke was another key contributor, dropping a double-double on 13 points and ten rebounds.
Van Wert has been struggling recently, as they've lost eight of their last nine games, which put a noticeable dent in their 3-14 record this season. As for Shawnee, they pushed their record up to 10-5 with that win, which was their fifth straight at home.
Van Wert didn't have too much breathing room in their match against Shawnee in their previous matchup back in January of 2023, but they still walked away with a 60-55 win. Does Van Wert have another victory up their sleeve, or will Shawnee turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.
