Basketball Game Preview: Crane Medical Cougars vs. Bloom Blazing Trojan

The Crane Medical Cougars will challenge the Bloom Blazing Trojan at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday. Keep an eye on the score for this one: the two teams posted some lofty point totals in their previous games.

Last Friday, everything went Crane Medical's way against Orr as Crane Medical made off with a 63-41 win. The Cougars have made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won 13 games by 22 points or more this season.

Crane Medical got their victory on the backs of several key players, but it was Tiana Simmons out in front who posted nine points along with eight rebounds and six blocks. Those six blocks gave Simmons a new career-high. The team also got some help courtesy of Sariah Allen, who scored eight points in addition to eight boards and five steals.

Crane Medical smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 13 offensive rebounds. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least 13 offensive boards in eight consecutive matchups.

Meanwhile, Bloom hadn't done well against Kankakee recently (they were 0-9 in their previous nine matchups), but they didn't let the past get in their way on Thursday. Bloom walked away with a 55-48 win over Kankakee. The victory made it back-to-back wins for the Blazing Trojan.

Crane Medical's victory was their eighth straight on the road dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 13-3. The wins came thanks to their defensive effort, having only surrendered 24.5 points per game. As for Bloom, they are on a roll lately: they've won eight of their last ten contests, which provided a nice bump to their 16-8 record this season.