Sparta is 0-5 against Carlyle since December of 2021 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Thursday. The Sparta Bulldogs will be playing at home against the Carlyle Indians/Lady Indians at 7:30 p.m. Both teams come into the contest bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
Sparta scored the most points they've had all season to find success on Wednesday. They put the hurt on Elverado/Zeigler-Royalton with a sharp 63-39 win. The victory was just what Sparta needed coming off of a 63-18 loss in their prior match.
Sparta relied on the efforts of Maddie Schulein, who scored 21 points, and Serenity Richardson, who scored 14 points along with seven steals and six rebounds. As a matter of fact, that's the most points Richardson has scored all season. Liberti Johnson was another key contributor, scoring 12 points.
Meanwhile, Carlyle entered their tilt with Triad with four consecutive wins but they'll enter their next game with five. Carlyle strolled past Triad with points to spare on Tuesday, taking the game 50-32. Given Carlyle's advantage in MaxPreps' Illinois basketball rankings (they are ranked 41st, while Triad is ranked 174th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Sparta's victory bumped their record up to 5-13. As for Carlyle, they are on a roll lately: they've won 11 of their last 12 games, which provided a nice bump to their 21-2 record this season.
Sparta was dealt a bruising 73-14 defeat at the hands of Carlyle when the teams last played back in December of 2023. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Carlyle's Sophia Hoffmann, who scored 14 points along with six assists and six steals. Now that Sparta knows the damage she can cause, will they be able to stop her this time? There's only one way to find out.
