The Proviso West Panthers's recent rough patch got a bit rougher on Friday after their seventh straight loss. They had to suffer through a rough 61-29 loss at the hands of Boylan Catholic. While losing is never fun, Proviso West can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Illinois basketball rankings (they are ranked 364th, while Boylan Catholic is ranked 41st).
Lilian Esparza was her usual excellent self, scoring 25 points along with nine rebounds for Boylan Catholic. That makes it five consecutive games in which Esparza has scored at least 25% of Boylan Catholic's points. Kaylee Harter was another key contributor, scoring nine points.
Proviso West bumped their record down to 2-8-1 with that defeat, which was their fourth straight on the road dating back to last season. As for Boylan Catholic, they have been performing incredibly well recently as they've won 11 of their last 12 matches, which provided a nice bump to their 14-2 record this season.
Proviso West is on the road again on Friday and play against Kaneland at 2:30 p.m. on December 29, 2023. Boylan Catholic will finish 2023 at home by hosting Marian Central Catholic at 5:30 p.m. on Friday. Each of these teams will be battling to keep a eight-game winning streak alive.
