The Taft Eagles and the Butler Lynx will round out the year against one another at at 11:30 a.m. on Thursday. Taft is coming into the contest on a five-game losing streak.
Taft's tournament run continued when they took on Hersey on Monday. Taft had to suffer through a 58-24 loss at the hands of Hersey. While losing is never fun, the Eagles can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Illinois basketball rankings (they are ranked 356th, while the Huskies are ranked 99th).
Meanwhile, Butler unfortunately witnessed the end of their four-game winning streak on Monday. They took a 52-44 hit to the loss column at the hands of Lincoln-Way Central.
Taft will have to contain Xyanna Walton as she made an impact in Butler's last game. She dropped a double-double on 25 points and 16 boards. Walton has been hot for a while, having posted eight or more boards the last 21 times she's played. Another player making a difference was Cyra Conwell, who posted ten points and three steals.
Even though they lost, Butler smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 13 offensive boards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least ten offensive rebounds in 12 consecutive matchups.
Butler's loss dropped their record down to 9-6. As for Taft, their defeat dropped their record down to 5-10.
Taft came up short against Butler when the teams last played back in January of 2020, falling 56-51. Thankfully for Taft, Camille Jackson (who dropped a double-double on 19 points and 13 rebounds) won't be suiting up this time. Will that be enough to change the final result? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
