Ainsworth is 8-2 against Valentine since January of 2017, and they'll have a chance to extend that success on Tuesday. The Ainsworth Bulldogs will be playing in front of their home fans against Valentine at 7:00 p.m. Ainsworth is coming into the match hot, having won their last three games.
Last Friday, Ainsworth beat West Holt 48-41.
Ainsworth's success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but Traegan McNally led the charge by scoring 20 points. That makes it two consecutive games in which McNally has scored at least 25% of Ainsworth's points. Another player making a difference was Trey Appelt, who dropped a double-double on 14 points and 10 rebounds.
Meanwhile, Valentine struggled with three-point shooting accuracy on Saturday (Cozad was 23% better) and sadly the final score reflected it. Valentine took a 54-37 bruising from Cozad. While losing is never fun, Valentine can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Nebraska basketball rankings (they are ranked 173rd, while Cozad is ranked 24th).
Even though the team lost, they still had their share of impressive performances. One of the most dominant came from Isaac Cronin, who scored 14 points along with 9 rebounds. The game was his fifth in a row with at least ten points. Andon Olson was another key contributor, scoring 13 points along with 5 rebounds.
Ainsworth's win bumped their record up to 3-0. As for Valentine, they now have a losing record at 2-3.
Ainsworth beat Valentine 37-30 in their previous meeting back in January. Will Ainsworth repeat their success, or does Valentine have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
