The Silver Lake Mustangs will face off against the Pleasanton Bulldogs at 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday.
Silver Lake is headed into Tuesday's match hungry for a win as their strong season has now been derailed by two straight losses. They were outmatched by Milford and fell 69-35. While losing is never fun, the Mustangs can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Nebraska basketball rankings (they are ranked 95th, while the Eagles are ranked 25th).
The losing side was boosted by Sophie Schmidt, who went 5 for 12 on her way to 12 points and five rebounds. That was a full 34.3% of Silver Lake's points, marking the fourth time in a row she's posted more than a third of the team's points. Katy Soucek was another key player, putting up 11 points.
Meanwhile, Pleasanton entered their tilt with Anselmo-Merna on Saturday with two consecutive wins but they'll enter their next game with three. They came out on top against the Coyotes by a score of 50-42.
Pleasanton's win came from a few key players Silver Lake will need to keep an eye on. One of the most notable was Brittany Riley, who made all 5 shots she took to post 15 points. The dominant performance gave her a new career-high in points. The team also got some help courtesy of Emme Westland, who had 13 points and eight rebounds.
Pleasanton smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 19 offensive rebounds. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Anselmo-Merna only pulled down four offensive boards.
Pleasanton has been performing well recently as they've won five of their last six contests, which provided a nice bump to their 7-2 record this season. As for Silver Lake, their defeat ended a three-game streak of wins at home and dropped them to 6-2.
Rebounding is likely to be a big factor in this contest: Silver Lake has been smashing the glass this season, having averaged 29.9 rebounds per game. However, it's not like Pleasanton struggles in that department as they've been averaging 32.2 boards. With both teams battling to corral missed shots, we'll see if one team can grab an edge.
Silver Lake skirted past Pleasanton 44-42 in their previous meeting back in January of 2024. Does Silver Lake have another victory up their sleeve, or will Pleasanton turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.
