The Catholic Central Irish will take on the Fairbanks Panthers in a holiday battle at at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday. The teams are rolling into the game with opposing streaks: Catholic Central has struggled recently with seven defeats in a row, while Fairbanks will arrive with four straight victories.
Catholic Central is headed into the match out to prove that what happened against Mechanicsburg on Wednesday (when they were outscored in every quarter) was just a minor bump in the road. Catholic Central had to suffer through a 48-9 loss at the hands of Mechanicsburg. The game marked the Irish's lowest-scoring contest so far this season.
Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Fairbanks). They claimed a resounding 68-13 win over Northeastern. With the Panthers ahead 42-10 at the half, the matchup was all but over already.
Fairbanks' win came from a few key players Catholic Central will need to keep an eye on. One of the most notable was Mollie Thrush, who made all 5 shots she took to post 10 points and three steals. She continues to improve, besting her previous point total in each of the last three games she's played. Grace Zahn was another key player, putting up four points along with six boards and six steals.
Fairbanks was working as a unit and finished the game with 18 assists. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Northeastern only posted four assists.
Fairbanks' victory was their third straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 6-1. The wins came thanks to their defensive effort, having only surrendered 25.3 points per game. As for Catholic Central, their loss dropped their record down to 0-6.
Catholic Central skirted past Fairbanks 38-35 in their previous meeting back in December of 2023. Does Catholic Central have another victory up their sleeve, or will Fairbanks turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
