The Palmer Ridge Bears and the Palisade Bulldogs will compete for holiday cheer at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday. Palmer Ridge is strutting in with some offensive muscle as they've averaged 53 points per game this season.
Palmer Ridge is headed into the matchup after thoroughly thrashing The Classical Academy: they outscored them in every quarter. Palmer Ridge put the hurt on The Classical Academy with a sharp 50-25 victory on Tuesday. The Bears have made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won four contests by 25 points or more this season.
| 12/17/24 @ The Classical Academy | 5 |
| 12/12/24 vs Widefield | 3 |
| 12/10/24 @ Rampart | 3 |
Addie Steenland went supernova for Palmer Ridge, putting up 17 points and five steals. Steenland is on a roll when it comes to steals, as she's now grabbed three or more in the last three games she's played. Another player making a difference was Taylor Peterson, who posted ten points in addition to six boards and five steals.
Palmer Ridge smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 18 offensive boards. That's the most offensive rebounds they've posted since back in December of 2023.
Meanwhile, Palisade ended up a good deal behind Chaparral on Saturday and lost 51-37. While losing is never fun, the Bulldogs can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Colorado basketball rankings (they are ranked 62nd, while the Wolverines are ranked 18th).
Palmer Ridge will need focus on slowing down Mady Bavor, one of several Palisade players who made an impact when they last played. She had six points. The team also got some help courtesy of Addie Ritterbush, who put up nine points.
The win (which was Palmer Ridge's third in a row) raised their record to 5-1. The wins came thanks to their defensive effort, having only surrendered 24.3 points per game. As for Palisade, they have traveled a rocky road recently having lost three of their last four games, which put a noticeable dent in their 3-3 record this season.
Rebounding is likely to be a big factor in this contest: Palmer Ridge has crashing the boards this season, having averaged 30.7 boards per game. However, it's not like Palisade struggles in that department as they've been averaging 34.2 rebounds. With both teams battling to corral missed shots, we'll see if one team can grab an edge.
Palmer Ridge didn't have too much breathing room in their match against Palisade in their previous matchup back in February of 2019, but they still walked away with a 33-28 victory. Does Palmer Ridge have another victory up their sleeve, or will Palisade turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.
