The Shekinah Christian Flames will head out on the road to challenge the Fisher Catholic Irish at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday. Each of these teams will be fighting to keep a win streak alive as Shekinah Christian comes in on three and Fisher Catholic on five.
With a playoff game on the line, Shekinah Christian rose to the challenge on Wednesday. They snuck past the Eagles with a 39-34 victory. The score was all tied up 16-16 at the break, but Shekinah Christian was the better team in the second half.
Shekinah Christian's success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but Alinea Slabaugh led the charge by scoring 11 points along with eight rebounds. Eleyna Beachy was another key contributor, scoring four points along with six rebounds and four steals.
Meanwhile, Fisher Catholic can now show off 15 landslide victories after their most recent match on Wednesday. They blew past Berne Union 54-9 at home. Given Fisher Catholic's advantage in MaxPreps' Ohio basketball rankings (they are ranked 179th, while Berne Union is ranked 777th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Ellie Bruce and Voni Bethel were among the main playmakers for Fisher Catholic as the former scored 18 points along with six rebounds and two steals and the latter scored 15 points along with six assists and four steals. Bruce has been hot recently, having posted 15 or more points the last six times she's played. The team also got some help courtesy of Jayda Dixon, who scored six points.
Shekinah Christian has been performing well recently as they've won 13 of their last 17 matches, which provided a nice bump to their 15-8 record this season. As for Fisher Catholic, their victory was their fifth straight at home, which pushed their record up to 20-3.
This contest is one where the number of possessions is likely to be a big factor: Shekinah Christian have been smashing the glass this season, having averaged 34.3 rebounds per game. However, it's not like Fisher Catholic struggles in that department as they've been averaging 27.8 rebounds per game. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
Shekinah Christian came up short against Fisher Catholic when the teams last played back in February of 2016, falling 41-36. Can Shekinah Christian 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
