The Penn Kingsmen will square off against the South Bend Washington Panthers at 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday. Both teams are coming into the matchup red-hot, with Penn sitting on eight straight wins and South Bend Washington on 16.
If Penn beats South Bend Washington with 34 points on Wednesday, it's going to be the team's new lucky number: they've won their past two contests with that exact score. Penn snuck past NorthWood with a 34-29 victory on Thursday. That's two games straight that the Kingsmen have won by exactly five points.
| 01/30/25 @ NorthWood | 5 |
| 01/28/25 @ La Porte | 5 |
| 01/23/25 vs South Bend St. Joseph | 2 |
| 01/17/25 @ New Prairie | 3 |
It was another big night for Jessa Troy, who posted ten points and five steals. She has been hot recently, having posted two or more steals the last four times she's played. Another player making a difference was Ava Stebbins, who earned six points.
Meanwhile, South Bend Washington earned a 71-61 win over Varsity Opponent on Wednesday.
South Bend Washington's win came from a few key players Penn will need to keep an eye on. One of the most notable was Kira Reynolds, who dropped a double-double on 19 points and ten boards. Monique Mitchell was another key player, going 7 for 14 on her way to 19 points along with eight rebounds and five assists.
South Bend Washington pushed their record up to 21-1 with the victory, which was their 13th straight at home dating back to last season. They've dominated over that stretch too, winning by an average of 43.9 points. As for Penn, they have been performing incredibly well recently as they've won 14 of their last 15 games, which provided a nice bump to their 20-5 record this season.
Keep an eye on the arc in Wednesday's matchup: Penn has been dynamite from deep this season, having made 37.2% of their threes per game. It's a different story for South Bend Washington, though, as they've only made 29.2% of their three-pointers this season. Given Penn's sizable advantage in that area, South Bend Washington will need to find a way to close that gap.
Penn couldn't quite finish off South Bend Washington when the teams last played back in December of 2024 and fell 52-50. Can Penn avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
