Taft has enjoyed the comforts of home their last three games, but now they'll head out on the road. They will take on the Kenwood Broncos at 5:00 p.m. on Monday. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.
You can't lose the match if you win every quarter, and that was precisely Taft's strategy against the Wolverines on Wednesday. Given that consistent dominance, it should come as no surprise that Taft blew the Wolverines out of the water with a 54-21 final score. Given Taft's advantage in MaxPreps' Illinois basketball rankings (they are ranked 151st, while the Wolverines are ranked 309th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
It was another big night for Grace Brumley, who scored 23 points. Another player making a difference was Emily Chavez, who scored four points along with five assists and three steals.
Meanwhile, Kenwood had already won five in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 27.2 points), and they went ahead and made it six on Wednesday. They simply couldn't be stopped as they easily beat Northside 68-17 at home. The high flying offensive effort was a huge turnaround for Kenwood considering their two-point performance the game before.
Kenwood can attribute much of their success to Icesis Thomas, who dropped a double-double on 22 points and 13 rebounds, and Ariella Henigan, who scored 17 points along with eight rebounds and five steals. It was the first time this season that Thomas scored 15 or more points. Talya Tillman was another key contributor, scoring seven points along with eight rebounds and three steals.
Taft has been performing incredibly well recently as they've won 11 of their last 12 matches, which provided a massive bump to their 17-11 record this season. As for Kenwood, their victory was their fourth straight at home, which pushed their record up to 20-7.
Taft suffered a grim 64-42 defeat to the Broncos when the teams last played back in February of 2023. Can Taft avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
