The Evansville North Huskies and the Franklin Community Grizzly Cubs will face off at 4:00 p.m. on February 10th without much rest after finishing up games yesterday. Evansville North is no doubt hoping to put an end to a four-game streak of away losses.
It can be hard to translate regular season success to the playoffs, but Evansville North had no problem doing just that on Saturday. They secured a 52-46 W over the Bears.
Evansville North got their victory on the backs of several key players, but it was Maddy Knies out in front who almost dropped a double-double on nine points and ten rebounds. Aliah Epps was another key contributor, scoring ten points.
While Franklin Community's win against Whiteland wasn't quite the blowout they won the last time the pair played, they still came away the winners. Franklin Community sure made it a nail-biter, but they managed to escape with a 45-42 win over Whiteland on Saturday. Given Franklin Community's advantage in MaxPreps' Indiana basketball rankings (they are ranked sixth, while Whiteland is ranked 138th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Franklin Community's success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but Lauren Klem led the charge by scoring ten points along with seven rebounds and five assists. Klem has been hot recently, having posted four or more steals the last three times she's played. Another player making a difference was Erica Buening, who scored ten points along with five rebounds and three steals.
Evansville North's win bumped their record up to 16-10. As for Franklin Community, they are on a roll lately: they've won 18 of their last 19 games, which provided a nice bump to their 23-3 record this season.
Saturday's match is shaping up to be a masterclass in shooting: Evansville North have been dynamite from deep this season, having made 42.6% of their threes per game. However, it's not like Franklin Community struggles in that department as they've nailed 42.2% of their threes this season. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out. Check MaxPreps after the action for a full breakdown of the game and more basketball content.
