Basketball Game Preview: North Vermillion Falcons vs. North Central Thunderbirds

Two dominant guards in Nora Thomann and Jalyn Davidson are getting ready to go toe-to-toe. It'll be a Battle of the Birds when the North Vermillion Falcons take on the North Central Thunderbirds at 4:00 p.m. on Saturday... Keep an eye on the score for this one: the two teams posted some lofty point totals in their previous games.

North Vermillion is headed into the match after thoroughly thrashing Covington: they outscored them in every quarter. North Vermillion took down Covington 60-43 on Thursday. The win made it back-to-back victories for the Falcons.

Thomann continued her habit of posting crazy stat lines, dropping a double-double on 24 points and 16 boards. The game was her third in a row with at least ten points. Kayanna Smith was another key player, going 5 for 9 on her way to 12 points.

North Vermillion smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 18 offensive rebounds. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least ten offensive boards in eight consecutive contests.

Meanwhile, North Central had already won two in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 46 points) and they went ahead and made it three on Friday. They took their match with ease, bagging a 61-34 win over the Panthers. The Thunderbirds have made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won 12 games by 25 points or more this season.

North Central's victory was their tenth straight on the road dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 18-3. Those victories came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 60.4 points per game. As for North Vermillion, they have been performing well recently as they've won eight of their last ten contests, which provided a nice bump to their 14-7 record this season.

Things could have been worse for North Vermillion, but things could have been a whole lot better as they took a 63-46 loss to North Central when the teams last played back in January of 2024. Can North Vermillion avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.