The Vermillion Tanagers are taking a road trip to take on the Dakota Valley Panthers at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday. Each of these teams will be fighting to keep a win streak alive as Vermillion comes in on nine and Dakota Valley on three.
Vermillion is on a roll after a high-stakes playoff matchup on Tuesday. They blew past Canton 71-36. The Tanagers have made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won seven matchups by 22 points or more this season.
Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Dakota Valley). They were the clear victor by a 92-68 margin over Beresford on Tuesday. Given the Panthers' advantage in MaxPreps' South Dakota basketball rankings (they are ranked third in South Dakota, while the Watchdogs are ranked 58th in South Dakota), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Dakota Valley's win came from a few key players Vermillion will need to keep an eye on. One of the most notable was Aubree Worden, who went 6-for-13 en route to 20 points along with six boards and three steals. She has been hot, having posted two or more steals the last eight times she's played. Ella Otten was another key player, going 7-for-14 to rack up 20 points in addition to five assists and three steals.
Dakota Valley was working as a unit and finished the game with 18 assists. The team's really been improving in that area: they've now improved their assist total in three consecutive games.
Vermillion pushed their record up to 18-3 with the victory, which was their 16th straight at home dating back to last season. Those victories came thanks in part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 62.8 points over those games. As for Dakota Valley, their win bumped their record up to 19-2.
Vermillion beat Dakota Valley 71-63 when the teams last played on February 11th. The rematch might be a little tougher for Vermillion since the team won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
