Basketball Game Preview: Northwestern Wildcats vs. Union City Bears

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Previous 5 Games

12/29/22 - Neutral	40-30 W
12/11/17 - Away	78-31 W
12/12/16 - Home	55-6 W
12/14/15 - Home	66-34 W
12/16/14 - Away	65-39 W

Northwestern has gone 5-0 against Union City recently and they'll look to pad the win column further on Monday. The Northwestern Wildcats will be home for the holidays to greet the Union City Bears at 7:30 p.m. Northwestern will be coming into the matchup with an undefeated record on the line.

Northwestern is headed in fresh off scoring the most points they have all season. They strolled past Warren with points to spare on Saturday, taking the game 52-34.

Makayla Presser-Palmer was her usual excellent self, putting up 26 points. That makes it four consecutive games in which she has scored at least a third of Northwestern's points. The team also got some help courtesy of Lana Keith, who posted ten points.

Meanwhile, Union City came into Thursday's game having lost four straight, but that streak is now in the rearview. They blew past Iroquois 69-6 on Thursday. The contest was pretty much decided by the half, when the score had already reached 50-4.

Northwestern better keep an eye on Brooke Vantassel. She was instrumental in Union City's win, almost dropping a triple-double on 19 points, ten boards, and nine steals. Those nine steals gave Vantassel a new career-high. Another player making a difference was Shaelynn Kent, who put up eight points and 11 steals.

Union City smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 17 offensive boards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least eight offensive rebounds in 14 consecutive matches dating back to last season.

Northwestern's victory was their seventh straight at home dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 4-0. The wins came thanks to their defensive effort, having only surrendered 24.7 points per game. As for Union City, their win (their first of the season) made their record 1-3.

Northwestern was able to grind out a solid victory over Union City when the teams last played back in December of 2022, winning 40-30. Will Northwestern repeat their success, or does Union City have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.