The St. John Woodchucks and the Drayton/Valley-Edinburg Titans will face off at 7:00 p.m. on January 23rd without much rest after finishing up games yesterday. The teams are on pretty different trajectories at the moment (St. John has nine straight wins, Drayton/Valley-Edinburg has four straight defeats), but none of that matters once you're on the field.
St. John scored the most points they've had all season to find success last Friday. They breezed by Dunseith on the road to the tune of 82-43. With St. John ahead 50-19 at the half, the matchup was all but over already.
Kaycee Desjarlais continued her habit of posting crazy stat lines, dropping a double-double on 15 points and 12 rebounds. Desjarlais is absolutely dominating the rebound category: she's posted at least eight every time she's taken the court this season. Another player making a difference was Alani Morin, who scored ten points along with eight rebounds and five assists.
Meanwhile, Drayton/Valley-Edinburg came up short against Park River/Fordville-Lankin on Friday and fell 54-41.
Drayton/Valley-Edinburg's loss shouldn't obscure the performances of Hailey Berg, who scored 14 points along with six rebounds and two blocks, and Easton Larson who scored 12 points along with seven rebounds and two steals. As a matter of fact, that's the most points Berg has scored all season.
St. John's win was their third straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 12-2. Those victories were due in large part to their offensive dominance across that stretch, as they averaged 66.7 points per game. As for Drayton/Valley-Edinburg, their defeat dropped their record down to 3-11.
Tuesday's game is one where the number of possessions is likely to be a big factor: St. John have been smashing the glass this season, having only averaged 39.5 rebounds per game. However, it's not like Drayton/Valley-Edinburg struggles in that department as they've been averaging only 31.3 rebounds per game. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out. Check back here after the action for a full breakdown and analysis of the contest.
