McQueen is 2-8 against Bishop Manogue since February of 2018 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Saturday. The McQueen Lancers will be playing at home against the Bishop Manogue Miners at 12:30 p.m. Both teams come into the matchup bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
McQueen posted their closest victory yet this season on Thursday. They narrowly escaped with a win as the team sidled past Galena 38-35. 38 seems to be a good number for McQueen as the team scooped up a win with the same number of points in their previous game.
McQueen relied on the efforts of Brooklyn Pimpl, who scored seven points, and Caitlin Hilson, who dropped a double-double on 14 points and 15 rebounds. Hilson has been hot recently, having posted eight or more rebounds the last four times she's played.
Meanwhile, Bishop Manogue entered their tilt with Douglas with 15 consecutive wins but they'll enter their next game with 16. Bishop Manogue put the hurt on Douglas with a sharp 69-48 victory on Thursday. Bishop Manogue has made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won 11 matchups by 21 points or more this season.
Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead Bishop Manogue to victory, but perhaps none more so than Mata Peaua, who scored 22 points along with six rebounds and two blocks. As a matter of fact, that's the most points Peaua has scored all season. Another player making a difference was Fa'anaetaua Puloka, who scored 19 points along with eight rebounds.
The win makes it two in a row for McQueen and bumps their season record up to 7-13. As for Bishop Manogue, they pushed their record up to 17-1 with that win, which was their ninth straight at home.
This contest is one where the number of possessions is likely to be a big factor: McQueen have been smashing the glass this season, having averaged 34 rebounds per game. However, it's not like Bishop Manogue struggles in that department as they've been averaging 33.1 rebounds per game. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
McQueen took a serious blow against Bishop Manogue in their previous meeting back in December of 2023, falling 64-10. The match was all but decided by halftime, at which point McQueen was down 32-5.
