Grant Park is 2-8 against Wilmington since November of 2018 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Saturday. The Grant Park Dragons will square off against the Wilmington Wildcats at 11:30 a.m. Both come into the game bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
Grant Park took a loss when they played away from home on Monday, but their home fans gave them all the motivation they needed on Thursday. They walked away with a 27-19 win over Gardner-South Wilmington.
Meanwhile, Wilmington had already won two in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 8.5 points) and they went ahead and made it three on Thursday. They enjoyed a cozy 42-24 victory over the Blue Devils. Given the Wildcats' advantage in MaxPreps' Illinois basketball rankings (they are ranked 293rd, while the Blue Devils are ranked 602nd), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Wilmington's win came from a few key players Grant Park will need to keep an eye on. One of the most notable was Sami Liaromatis, who dropped a double-double on 14 points and 12 boards. That's the most rebounds she has posted since back in January of 2024. Skylar Rossow was another key player, dropping a double-double on ten points and ten rebounds.
Wilmington smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 14 offensive boards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least eight offensive rebounds in 15 consecutive matches.
Wilmington's win was their fourth straight at home, which pushed their record up to 12-4. Those victories came thanks to their defensive effort, having only surrendered 29.0 points per game. As for Grant Park, they are on a roll lately: they've won three of their last four contests, which provided a nice bump to their 5-7 record this season.
Grant Park opened the new year with a less-than-successful 46-33 loss to Wilmington. Can Grant Park avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
