The Steeleville Warriors were the 41-40 winner over the Sparta Bulldogs when they last played one another back in December of 2023, but their luck changed this time around. Steeleville fell just short of Sparta by a score of 42-39. Steeleville has now taken an 'L' in back-to-back games.
Steeleville's loss came despite a true team effort from the offense, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was Rylan Reiss , who scored 17 points along with seven rebounds. Reiss scored a full 43.6% of Steeleville's points, the third time in a row she's earned more than a third of the team's points. The team also got some help courtesy of Bailey Cole, who scored eight points.
Sparta's success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but Kenzie Pierce led the charge by scoring 17 points along with five rebounds and four steals. That makes it 12 consecutive games in which Pierce has scored at least 25% of Sparta's points. Another player making a difference was Maddie Schulein, who scored 12 points.
Steeleville has traveled a rocky road recently, as they've lost four of their last five games, which put a noticeable dent in their 5-8 record this season. As for Sparta, their win bumped their record up to 3-9.
Steeleville is on the road again on Thursday and play against New Athens at 6:00 p.m. on January 4th. Hopefully New Athens focused on turnovers this week since the team gave up 26 on Tuesday. As for Sparta, they will take on Marissa/Coulterville at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday. Marissa/Coulterville's defense has only allowed 26.3 points per game this season, so Sparta's offense will have their work cut out for Sparta.
