McCool Junction has enjoyed the comforts of home their last three games, but now they'll head out on the road. They will square off against the St. Mary's Cardinals at 10:45 a.m. on Thursday. Both teams come into the match bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
With a playoff game on the line, McCool Junction rose to the challenge on Friday. They walked away with a 69-62 victory over the Cardinals. Having run the score up that high, both teams probably have some extra defensive drills coming up.
McCool Junction's win was the result of several impressive offensive performances. One of the most notable came from Mckenna Yates, who scored 29 points along with five rebounds and three steals. That makes it five consecutive games in which Yates has scored at least a third of McCool Junction's points. Briann Stutzman was another key contributor, going 6 for 11 from beyond the arc en route to 20 points and 2 assists.
Meanwhile, St. Mary's had already won 14 in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 27.6 points), and they went ahead and made it 15 on Friday. They took down Sumner-Eddyville-Miller 59-42. Winning is a bit easier when you work as a team to rack up 12 more assists than your opponent, as St. Mary's did.
Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead St. Mary's to victory, but perhaps none more so than Alissa Brabec, who went 7 for 13 from beyond the arc en route to 26 points and 0 assists. The team also got some help courtesy of Lorissa Reiman, who dropped a double-double on 13 points and 11 rebounds.
McCool Junction's win was their 21st straight at home dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 20-3. Those victories were due in large part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 62.1 points per game. As for St. Mary's, they have been performing incredibly well recently as they've won 16 of their last 17 contests, which provided a nice bump to their 22-2 record this season.
Thursday's matchup is shaping up to be a masterclass in shooting: McCool Junction have been dynamite from deep this season, having made 40.1% of their threes per game. However, it's not like St. Mary's struggles in that department as they've made 44.2% of their threes this season. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
McCool Junction couldn't quite finish off St. Mary's in their previous matchup back in January and fell 41-39. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of St. Mary's Mya Hedstrom, who scored 27 points along with eight rebounds and eight steals. Now that McCool Junction knows the damage she can cause, will they be able to stop her this time? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
