The Middletown Knights Varsity and JV Girls Basketball  teams will take on the Oakdale Bears with JV starting tonight at 5:30 and Varsity finishing off the doubleheader at seven. This is the marquee matchup around Frederick County as both teams are consistently atop the county standings. This game also figures to be a playoff preview for the team as both teams play in the 2A West region and will most likely see each other in the late rounds of the playoffs. The varsity team has won three out of its last four games including Frederick County powerhouses Frederick and Thomas Johnson.

The key to the Knights’ (12-6, 7-6 MVAL Piedmont) success as of late has been their ability to control the tempo and force their opponents to play a fast-tempo, high paced game. The Knights have used this offense to perfection with the speed combo of junior Jess Racz and senior Caitlin McLister. In the last four games, Racz is averaging 9.3 points and McLister averaging 16.3 pts. The Knights will look to get Racz and McLister involved early, in order to get an early advantage.

For Oakdale, their key players are center Erica Buls and point guard Olivia Spahr. The Bears(11-7, 6-6 MVAL Piedmont) have been led by a devastating one-two punch, with Buls averaging 13.8 points and 9.8 rebounds per game and Spahr with 6.6 assists per game with most of them going to Buls. Spahr will be matched up with Racz which should be one of the more intriguing matchups of the night, as Spahr has a 3 inch height advantage over the smaller Racz.

The JV team will take on Oakdale tomorrow and like their upperclassmen they will look to continue the momentum they have been riding on. They have also won 3 out of their last 4 with the only loss coming to TJ. The Knights’ hot hand lately has been freshman Paige Tarleton, with the Knights point guard on pace to eclipse 150 points this season. The last time these two teams played, Middletown fell in a nail-biter, in which their offense came up short and was unable to convert in clutch situations.