The Maine East Blue Demons will head out on the road to take on the Lane Tech Champions at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday. Having both just faced considerable losses, both teams are looking to turn things around.
Maine East is headed into the contest having just suffered their biggest loss since November 16, 2023 on Tuesday. They took a blow against New Trier, falling 65-36. The defeat continues a trend for the Blue Demons in their matchups with the Trevians: they've now lost six in a row.
Despite the loss, Maine East saw an underclassman step up: sophomore Arabella Silva went 9-for-19 en route to 23 points and three steals. That was a full 63.9% of Maine East's points, marking the 30th time in a row Silva has posted more than a third of the team's points.
Meanwhile, Lane Tech played a tough match on Wednesday in which they were outscored in every quarter. They were dealt an 80-47 defeat at the hands of Whitney Young. While losing is never fun, the Champions can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Illinois basketball rankings (they are ranked 100th, while the Dolphins are ranked 18th).
Maine East will need to focus on slowing down Lucy Mehlis, one of several Lane Tech players who made an impact when they last played. She went 5-for-8 on her way to 10 points. What's more, Mehlis also posted a 63% shooting accuracy, which is the highest she's achieved since back in February of 2024. Grace Bush was another key player, putting up eight points.
Even though they lost, Lane Tech smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 14 offensive rebounds. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least ten offensive boards in six consecutive games.
Lane Tech's loss dropped their record down to 17-12. As for Maine East, their defeat dropped their record down to 14-16.
Rebounding is likely to be a big factor in this contest: Maine East has been smashing the glass this season, having averaged 27.5 boards per game. However, it's not like Lane Tech struggles in that department as they've been averaging 34.9 rebounds. With both teams battling to corral missed shots, we'll see if one team can grab an edge.
Maine East was taken down by Lane Tech 52-24 when the teams last played back in December of 2023. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Lane Tech's Melanie Blanco, who went 8-for-14 to rack up 18 points and seven boards. Now that Maine East knows the damage she can cause, will they be able to stop her this time? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
