Mt. Vernon is 2-8 against Carterville since January of 2017 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Thursday. The Mt. Vernon Rams will take on the Carterville Lions at 6:00 p.m. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.
Mt. Vernon entered their tilt with Cairo with three consecutive wins but they'll enter their next game with four. Mt. Vernon claimed a resounding 80-40 victory over Cairo on the road. With Mt. Vernon ahead 47-11 at the half, the contest was all but over already.
Mt. Vernon relied on the efforts of Melaina Zedalis, who scored 16 points, and Tiara Johnson, who scored 24 points. Johnson has been hot recently, having posted 15 or more points the last four times she's played. The team also got some help courtesy of Kylie Poole, who scored ten points.
Carterville posted their biggest victory since December 7, 2023 on Monday. They were the clear victor by a 51-29 margin over Central. Given Carterville's advantage in MaxPreps's basketball rankings in their respective home states (they are ranked 103rd in Illinois, while Central is ranked 267th in Missouri), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Mt. Vernon is on a roll lately: they've won 15 of their last 16 matches, which provided a nice bump to their 19-3 record this season. As for Carterville, they pushed their record up to 18-5 with that win, which was their third straight at home.
Mt. Vernon strolled past Carterville in their previous matchup back in January of 2023 by a score of 70-55. Will Mt. Vernon repeat their success, or does Carterville have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
