The Mt. Vernon Rams had already won two in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 51.5 points), and they went ahead and made it three on Thursday. They took down Althoff Catholic 64-48. Given Mt. Vernon's advantage in MaxPreps' Illinois basketball rankings (they are ranked 48th, while Althoff Catholic is ranked 195th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Kamaree Pollard continued her habit of posting crazy stat lines, scoring 20 points along with eight assists and eight steals. As a matter of fact, that's the most points she has scored all season. The team also got some help courtesy of Tiara Johnson, who scored 19 points.
Despite the loss, Althoff Catholic still got an impressive performance from Emilee Travnicek, who dropped a double-double on 23 points and 12 rebounds. Travnicek hasn't dropped below eight rebounds for five straight games. Alaina Lester was another key contributor, scoring ten points along with three steals.
Even though they lost, Althoff Catholic smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 15 offensive rebounds. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Mt. Vernon only pulled down three offensive rebounds.
Mt. Vernon pushed their record up to 22-4 with that victory, which was their fifth straight at home. Those good results were due in large part to their offensive dominance across that stretch, as they averaged 75.2 points per game. As for Althoff Catholic, their defeat ended a three-game streak of away wins and brought them to 14-10.
Both squads are looking forward to the support of their home crowds in their upcoming games. Mt. Vernon will take on Centralia at 6:00 p.m. on Monday. As for Althoff Catholic, they will look to defend their home court on Monday against Metro-East Lutheran at 6:00 p.m. Hopefully Metro-East Lutheran focused on turnovers this week since the team gave up 22 on Thursday.
