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 head out on the road to square off against the Carterville Lions at 6:30 p.m. Mt. Vernon is looking to tack on another W to their 15-game streak on the road dating back to last season.
Mt. Vernon can now show off 12 landslide victories after their most recent contest on Monday. They simply couldn't be stopped as they easily beat Cairo 80-40 on the road. The game was pretty much decided by the half, when the score had already reached 47-11.
Mt. Vernon's win was a true team effort, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was Tiara Johnson, who scored 24 points along with six rebounds and two steals. Johnson is on a roll when it comes to steals, as she's now grabbed two or more in the last 16 games she's played. Another player making a difference was Melaina Zedalis, who scored 16 points along with seven assists and five steals.
Meanwhile, Carterville put the finishing touches on their seventh blowout victory of the season on Monday. They put the hurt on Central with a sharp 51-29 win. 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.
Amayah Doyle was her usual excellent self, dropping a double-double on 27 points and 15 rebounds. She hasn't dropped below eight rebounds for four straight games. Caidence Phillips was another key contributor, scoring five points along with six rebounds and four steals.
Mt. Vernon is on a roll lately: they've won 15 of their last 16 games, which provided a nice bump to their 19-3 record this season. As for Carterville, the victory makes it two in a row for them and bumps their season record up to 18-5.
Keep an eye on the arc in Thursday's contest: Mt. Vernon have made nailing deep shots look easy this year this season, having only averaged 5.3 threes per game. It's a different story for Carterville, though, as they've been averaging only 4.6 threes per game. Given Mt. Vernon's sizeable advantage in that area, Carterville will need to find a way to close that gap.
Mt. Vernon strolled past Carterville when the teams last played 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.
