The Spring Grove Lions entered their tilt with the LeRoy-Ostrander Cardinals with nine consecutive wins but they'll enter their next game with ten. Spring Grove put the hurt on the Cardinals with a sharp 67-45 victory on Thursday. Given Spring Grove's advantage in MaxPreps' Minnesota basketball rankings (they are ranked 124th, while the Cardinals are ranked 392nd), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
LeRoy-Ostrander lost despite a true team effort on the offense, the best among them being Benita Nolt, who dropped a double-double on 18 points and ten rebounds. That was a full 40% of LeRoy-Ostrander's points, marking the third time in a row she's earned more than a third of the team's points. The team also got some help courtesy of Maria Almaraz-Nolt, who scored nine points along with two steals.
Even though they lost, LeRoy-Ostrander smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 11 offensive rebounds. This was only their 14th loss (out of 16 games) when they hit their own glass that hard.
Spring Grove pushed their record up to 18-2 with that win, which was their fourth straight on the road. As for LeRoy-Ostrander, they are on a four-game losing streak that has dropped them down to 2-18.
Both teams are looking forward to the support of their home crowds in their upcoming games. Spring Grove won't have much time to rest: their next game is against the Kee Hawks at 6:00 p.m. on February 2nd. Kee is also coming in off of a big victory, so somebody is in for a big reversal of fortune. As for LeRoy-Ostrander, they will be playing in front of their home fans against the Falcons at 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday. Wabasha-Kellogg is coming into the match on a four-game losing streak.
