An all Marion County matchup will take place in Pleasantville this evening as Melcher-Dallas travels to play the Trojans. The girls game could be a battle of two of the top guards in the area with Melcher-Dallas’s Addi Wadle and Pleasantville’s Joelle Johnson. Wadle scored 19 points in a season opening loss to Wayne last Tuesday while Johnson scored 15 in a 65-37 loss to class 2A #1 Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont. Both head coaches will rely on their players, but Melcher-Dallas Coach Kelsey Goff cautions Johnson does have a supporting cast.

Goff: “It’s a close game, in county rival. It’s one we always look forward to testing us and seeing what we can do with a team that’s a class above us, and hopefully we can go up there and compete and see how well we do.”

Pleasantville Coach Allyson Price hopes that her extra shooters will support Johnson and not make it all on her.

Price “We have other girls that can shoot from the outside, not just Joelle, and we feel we have also done better about getting the ball inside.”

Both boys squads will make their season debut. The Saints lost 69-19 last season but look to be much more competitive this year. The girls series has been dominated by Pleasantville 11-1 with the lone Melcher-Dallas win coming back in 2012 during the Bound Era. The boys have never lost during the same span of time holding an 11-0 lead over the Saints. Girls are set to tip off tonight at 6:00.