You can't lose the matchup if you win every quarter, and that was precisely the Jefferson Bulldogs's strategy against the West Rusk Raiders on Tuesday. Jefferson took down the Raiders 65-48. Given Jefferson's advantage in MaxPreps' Texas basketball rankings (they are ranked 529th, while the Raiders are ranked 1161st), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Several Raiders players turned in solid performances despite ultimately coming up short. Perhaps the best among those players was Kamyah Lacy, who dropped a double-double on 12 points and 12 rebounds. Lacy is on a roll when it comes to steals, as she's now grabbed two or more in the last nine games she's played. Another player making a difference was Keke Murphy, who scored 11 points along with eight assists and five rebounds.
Even though they lost, West Rusk smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 23 offensive rebounds. This was only their 14th loss (out of 21 games) when they hit their own glass that hard.
Jefferson has been performing well recently as they've won nine of their last 11 matchups, which provided a nice bump to their 23-8 record this season. As for West Rusk, their defeat ended a three-game streak of wins at home and dropped them to 9-19.
Jefferson will be staying on the road on Friday to face off against the Tigers at 6:15 p.m. on February 2nd. Arp is out to stop a three-game streak of losses at home. West Rusk will take on the Eagles at 6:15 p.m. on Friday. Tatum will be looking to extend their current ten-game winning streak.
