The St. Mary's Cardinals will square off against the Pender Pendragons at 9:00 a.m. on Friday. St. Mary's will be looking to extend their current 16-game winning streak.
St. Mary's had already proven themselves in the regular season, and didn't miss a beat now that it's playoff time. They came out on top against McCool Junction by a score of 53-40 on Thursday.
St. Mary's can attribute much of their success to Lorissa Reiman, who dropped a double-double on 14 points and 12 rebounds, and Mya Hedstrom, who scored 25 points along with six rebounds and four steals. Reiman hasn't dropped below eight rebounds for six straight games. Gracie Williamson was another key contributor, scoring two points along with seven rebounds and two steals.
Meanwhile, Pender stacked a 22nd blowout win onto their ever-increasing hoard on Thursday. They were the clear victor by a 54-29 margin over Bancroft-Rosalie. Given Pender's advantage in MaxPreps' Nebraska basketball rankings (they are ranked 17th, while Bancroft-Rosalie is ranked 82nd), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
St. Mary's has been performing incredibly well recently as they've won 17 of their last 18 contests, which provided a nice bump to their 23-2 record this season. As for Pender, the win was the sixth in a row for them, bringing their record for this year to 26-1.
St. Mary's didn't have too much breathing room in their game against Pender in their previous matchup back in December of 2016, but they still walked away with a 44-39 victory. Will St. Mary's repeat their success, or does Pender have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
