The New Athens Yellow Jackets's recent rough patch got a bit rougher on Thursday after their third straight loss. They took a 42-30 hit to the loss column at the hands of Steeleville. The defeat unfortunately continues a disappointing trend for New Athens in their matchups with Steeleville: they've now lost three in a row.
New Athens' defeat came despite a true team effort from the offense, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was Mallory Kohnen, who scored six points along with six rebounds. The team also got some help courtesy of Peyton Houser, who scored eight points.
Even though they lost, New Athens were smashing the offensive glass and finished the game with ten offensive rebounds. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Steeleville only pulled down 17 offensive rebounds.
Steeleville found their leader in underclassman Rylan Reiss , who scored 19 points along with four steals. That makes it four consecutive games in which Reiss has scored at least 25% of Steeleville's points. Bailey Cole was another key contributor, scoring eight points along with eight rebounds and five steals.
New Athens' defeat dropped their record down to 2-13. As for Steeleville, their victory bumped their record up to 6-8.
New Athens will be staying on the road on Saturday to face off against Cobden at 12:00 p.m. on January 6th. The matchup should be an exciting one, as these teams are ranked near one another in Illinois (Cobden is ranked 668th, while New Athens is ranked 692nd). As for Steeleville, they will take on Dupo at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday. Dupo is coming into the match on a five-game losing streak.
