St. Mary's Academy is 0-4 against Life Prep since December of 2019 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Tuesday. Having just played yesterday, the St. Mary's Academy Crusaders will get right back to it and host the Life Prep Fire at 6:00 p.m. on December 19th. Both teams took a loss in their last game, so they'll have plenty of motivation to get the 'W'.
St. Mary's Academy's 15-7 record from last season is now well into the rear view mirror after another tough outing. The match between St. Mary's Academy and Bishop Seabury Academy wasn't particularly close, with St. Mary's Academy falling 59-42. While losing is never fun, St. Mary's Academy can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Kansas basketball rankings (they are ranked 199th, while Bishop Seabury Academy is ranked 21st).
Despite their loss, St. Mary's Academy saw several players rise to the challenge and make noteworthy plays. Nick Whitehead , who scored 11 points along with three steals, was perhaps the best of all. Whitehead scored a full 26.2% of St. Mary's Academy's points, the fourth time in a row he's earned more than a third of the team's points. Andrew Moats was another key contributor, scoring seven points along with three steals.
Even though they lost, St. Mary's Academy were smashing the offensive glass and finished the game with 12 offensive rebounds. That's the most offensive rebounds they've managed all season.
Meanwhile, after a string of five wins, Life Prep's good fortune finally ran out last Saturday. They took a serious blow against Weatherford, falling 63-35. The result shouldn't come as a shock considering that's the fewest points Life Prep has scored all season.
Despite the loss, Life Prep saw an underclassman step up: Marcian Pickstock scored 13 points. Another player making a difference was Laterro Young, who scored nine points.
St. Mary's Academy's defeat dropped their record down to 1-3. As for Life Prep, their loss dropped their record down to 5-2.
This contest is one where the number of possessions is likely to be a big factor: St. Mary's Academy have been smashing the glass this season, having only averaged 22 rebounds per game. It's a different story for Life Prep, though, as they've been averaging only 26.6 rebounds per game. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
St. Mary's Academy took a serious blow against Life Prep when the teams last played back in February of 2022, falling 88-55. Thankfully for St. Mary's Academy, D'Angelo Dawkins (who scored 24 points along with nine rebounds and three steals) won't be suiting up this time. Will that be enough to change the final result? There's only one way to find out.
