The Wilcox-Hildreth Falcons will wrap up 2023 with a road trip to face off against the Harvard Cardinals at 2:00 p.m. on Friday. The teams are on pretty different trajectories at the moment (Wilcox-Hildreth has three straight victories, Harvard has 28 straight defeats), but none of that matters once you're on the field.
It may have taken overtime to finish the job, but Wilcox-Hildreth ultimately got the result they hoped for on Thursday. They snuck past Shelton with a 40-36 victory.
Madison Bunger continued her habit of posting crazy stat lines, dropping a double-double on 16 points and 11 rebounds. That makes it three consecutive games in which she has scored at least 25% of Wilcox-Hildreth's points. The team also got some help courtesy of Cheyenne Lieb, who scored seven points along with five rebounds.
Meanwhile, Harvard came up short against Gibbon on Tuesday and fell 34-24. Harvard has struggled against Gibbon recently, as their match on Tuesday was their third consecutive lost matchup.
Despite the loss, Harvard saw an underclassman step up: Tabi Forney scored 13 points along with seven rebounds and three steals. The matchup was Forney's third in a row with at least ten points.
Even though they lost, Harvard were smashing the offensive glass and finished the game with 14 offensive rebounds. That's the most offensive rebounds they've managed all season.
Wilcox-Hildreth now has a winning record of 4-3. As for Harvard, their defeat was their 13th straight at home dating back to last season, which bumped their record down to 0-7.
Friday's contest is shaping up to be a scrappy matchup: Wilcox-Hildreth have been smashing the glass this season, having only averaged 25.3 rebounds per game. It's a different story for Harvard, though, as they've been averaging only 23.7 rebounds per game. Given Wilcox-Hildreth's sizeable advantage in that area, Harvard will need to find a way to close that gap.
Everything came up roses for Wilcox-Hildreth against Harvard in their previous matchup back in December of 2022 as the team secured a 49-12 victory. With Wilcox-Hildreth ahead 33-7 at the half, the match was all but over already.
