Basketball Game Preview: Harrison Central Huskies vs. Buckeye Local Panthers

Harrison Central and Buckeye Local are an even 5-5 against one another since January of 2017, but not for long. The Harrison Central Huskies will take on the Buckeye Local Panthers in a holiday battle at at 7:00 p.m. on Monday. Harrison Central has been getting the ball to fall more lately as they've increased their point totals each of their last three games.

Harrison Central is headed in fresh off scoring the most points they have all season. They blew past Brooke 67-31 on Saturday. The victory was all the more spectacular given the Huskies' disadvantage in MaxPreps' basketball rankings in their respective home states (they are ranked 282nd in Ohio, while the Bruins are ranked 42nd in West Virginia).

Maddie Sedgmer and Mikayla Pelegreen were among the main playmakers for Harrison Central as the former posted 29 points and eight rebounds and the latter dropped a double-double on 12 points and 11 rebounds. With that strong performance, Pelegreen is now averaging an impressive 2.4 steals per game. The team also got some help courtesy of Kara Blackburn, who earned five points and five steals.

Meanwhile, Buckeye Local was not able to break out of their rough patch on Thursday as the team picked up their fourth straight defeat. They were outmatched by Barnesville and fell 62-24. The Panthers were in a tough position after the first half, with the score already sitting at 37-15.

Harrison Central is on a roll lately: they've won five of their last six contests, which provided a nice bump to their 6-3 record this season. As for Buckeye Local, their loss dropped their record down to 1-7.

Harrison Central suffered a grim 54-33 defeat to Buckeye Local when the teams last played back in November of 2023. Can Harrison Central avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.