After both having extra time off, the Decatur Central Hawks and the Mt. Vernon Marauders will shake off the cobwebs and face off against one another at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday. Decatur Central is coming into the contest on a three-game losing streak.
Last Saturday, Decatur Central came up short against Silver Creek and fell 72-65. While losing is never fun, the Hawks can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Indiana basketball rankings (they are ranked 217th, while the Dragons are ranked 15th).
Meanwhile, Mt. Vernon hadn't done well against Crown Point recently (they were 0-3 in their previous three matchups), but they didn't let the past get in their way last Saturday. Mt. Vernon ended the year with a bang, routing Crown Point 58-37. The win made it back-to-back victories for the Marauders.
Decatur Central better focus on containing Zoey Wood and Gabby Thomas as the pair were huge in Mt. Vernon's win. Wood went 8 of 13 en route to 20 points along with seven assists and six boards, while Thomas went 6 of 10 on her way to 16 points and six steals. The dominant performance gave Thomas a new career-high in steals. The team also got some help courtesy of Alaya Baxter, who went 5 of 12 on her way to 11 points.
Mt. Vernon was working as a unit and finished the game with 16 assists. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Crown Point only racked up five assists.
Mt. Vernon is on a roll lately: they've won five of their last six matches, which provided a nice bump to their 12-4 record this season. Those victories came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 51.8 points per game. As for Decatur Central, their loss dropped their record down to 4-10.
Everything went Decatur Central's way against Mt. Vernon in their previous meeting back in December of 2023, as Decatur Central made off with a 57-32 win. The rematch might be a little tougher for Decatur Central since the team won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
