The Pender Pendragons will be home for the holidays to greet the Bancroft-Rosalie Panthers on Tuesday. Pender will be coming into the game with an undefeated record on the line.
Pender has made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won six matches by 25 points or more this season. Everything went their way against Stanton on Saturday as Pender made off with a 62-37 victory. Given Pender's advantage in MaxPreps' Nebraska basketball rankings (they are ranked 11th, while Stanton is ranked 166th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead Pender to victory, but perhaps none more so than Hadley Walsh, who scored 13 points along with nine rebounds. That's the first time this season that Walsh pulled down eight or more rebounds. Another player making a difference was Avery Wegner, who scored 17 points along with six assists and five rebounds.
Meanwhile, Bancroft-Rosalie fought the good fight in their overtime matchup against Fort Calhoun on Saturday but wound up with a less-than-desirable result. They fell to the Pioneers 68-64. The loss was Bancroft-Rosalie's first of the season.
Pender's win was their ninth straight at home dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 8-0. They've been dominating during the contests in that stretch too, as they've won by an average of 32.56 points. As for Bancroft-Rosalie, their defeat ended a three-game streak of away wins and brought them to 5-1.
Pender strolled past Bancroft-Rosalie in their previous meeting back in December of 2022 by a score of 48-32. Does Pender have another victory up their sleeve, or will Bancroft-Rosalie turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.