North Callaway has been on the road for five straight, but on Thursday they'll finally head home. They will take on the Clopton Hawks at 6:00 p.m. on Thursday. Hopefully North Callaway focused on turnovers this week since the team gave up 22 on Saturday.
Last Saturday, things could have been worse for North Callaway, but they could have been a whole lot better as they took a 61-45 loss to Montgomery County. While losing is never fun, North Callaway can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Missouri basketball rankings (they are ranked 136th, while Montgomery County is ranked 16th).
North Callaway's defeat came about despite a quality game from Natalie Shryock, who scored 26 points. The team also got some help courtesy of Riley Blevins, who scored six points along with six rebounds and two blocks.
Meanwhile, Clopton didn't have too much trouble with Silex at home on Thursday as they won 53-36.
Clopton can attribute much of their success to Skylar Parker, who scored 11 points along with seven rebounds and five steals, and Braya Smith, who dropped a double-double on 18 points and 11 rebounds. Another player making a difference was Campbell Lindsay, who scored three points along with four steals.
North Callaway's loss dropped their record down to 10-5. As for Clopton, they have been performing well recently as they've won three of their last four games, which provided a nice bump to their 10-4 record this season.
Thursday's game is shaping up to be a scrappy matchup: North Callaway have been smashing the glass this season, having only averaged 29.5 rebounds per game. It's a different story for Clopton, though, as they've been averaging only 26.8 rebounds per game. Given North Callaway's sizeable advantage in that area, Clopton will need to find a way to close that gap.
North Callaway didn't have too much breathing room in their contest against Clopton in their previous meeting back in January of 2023, but they still walked away with a 45-41 victory. Does North Callaway have another victory up their sleeve, or will Clopton turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.
