The Hodgeman County Longhorns will head out on the road to challenge the LaCrosse Leopards at 6:00 p.m. on Thursday. Expect the scorekeeper to be kept busy: if their previous games are any indication, both teams will really light up the scoreboard.
Winning is just a little bit easier when you work as a team to rack up seven more assists than your opponent, a fact Hodgeman County proved on Thursday. They skirted past Spearville 57-55.
Owen Reece was his usual excellent self, dropping a double-double on 26 points and 11 rebounds. That makes it 21 consecutive games in which he has scored at least a third of Hodgeman County's points. Ian Reece was another key contributor, scoring 14 points along with five rebounds.
Meanwhile, LaCrosse came tearing into last Tuesday's match with 11 straight wins (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 27.5 points) and they left with even more momentum. They claimed a resounding 64-31 victory over Kinsley on the road. LaCrosse has made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won 12 matchups by 20 points or more this season.
LaCrosse's win was a true team effort, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was Caden Morgan, who scored 21 points along with eight assists. Morgan hasn't dropped below 21 points for three straight games. The team also got some help courtesy of Conner Barriger, who scored 17 points.
Hodgeman County's win bumped their record up to 13-8. As for LaCrosse, their win was their fifth straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 17-2.
Some high-performance offense is likely on the agenda as the two teams are some of the highest scoring teams in the league. Hodgeman County hasn't had any problem running up the score this season, having averaged 60.6 points per game. However, it's not like LaCrosse struggles in that department as they've been averaging 62.3 points per game. With both teams so easily able to put up points, the only question left is who can run the score up higher.
Hodgeman County and LaCrosse were neck-and-neck in their previous meeting back in December of 2022, but Hodgeman County came up empty-handed after a 58-57 loss. Can Hodgeman County avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
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