Elgin/Pope John is 0-10 against St. Mary since February of 2020 but things could change on Friday. The Elgin/Pope John Wolfpack will look to defend their home court against the St. Mary's Cardinals at 7:00 p.m. Keep an eye on the score for this one: the two teams posted some lofty point totals in their previous games.
Last Thursday, Elgin/Pope John didn't have too much trouble with Randolph as they won 61-47. The Wolfpack pushed the score to 59-29 by the end of the third, a deficit the Cardinals cut but never quite recovered from.
Meanwhile, St. Mary's had already won seven in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 28.4 points) and they went ahead and made it eight on Thursday. They strolled past the Huskies with points to spare, taking the game 69-50.
St. Mary's win came from a few key players Elgin/Pope John will need to keep an eye on. One of the most notable was Gage Hedstrom, who went 8-for-20 on his way to 23 points and five rebounds. The match was his third in a row with at least 18 points. Ben Barlow was another key player, going 7-for-13 to rack up 19 points along with five assists and five boards.
St. Mary's smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 14 offensive rebounds. The team's really been improving in that area: they've now improved their offensive board total in three consecutive games.
St. Mary's win was their fourth straight at home, which pushed their record up to 18-4. They've dominated over that stretch too, winning by an average of 32.8 points. As for Elgin/Pope John, they have been performing well recently as they've won four of their last five contests, which provided a nice bump to their 13-9 record this season.
Elgin/Pope John came up short against St. Mary's when the teams last played last Saturday, falling 69-63. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Hedstrom, who went 6-for-11 from beyond the arc en route to 33 points and seven rebounds. Now that Elgin/Pope John knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
