A crosstown rivalry makes the list this week, as these two teams will be looking to improve on their results from last season.
Both St. Cloud Tech and St. Cloud Apollo finished near the bottom of the Central Lakes Conference last season — Tech sixth, Apollo seventh. More importantly, both teams lost in the first round of their respective section tournaments.
The Tigers (1-4, 0-1) have suffered a rough start to the season. They were defeated in four contests by an average of 31.8 points, and they lost their only conference game 66-28 to last year's champion, Alexandria, on Dec. 1.
If they're going to turn things around against the Eagles, St. Cloud Tech will need players like center Makena Lindgren to take control. She had 10 points in the Tigers' 69-35 loss to St. Michael-Albertville last Friday.
The Eagles (3-1) have had a better start to the year, kicking off their season with a 75-10 blowout over St. Paul Prep, which started a three-game winning streak.
St. Cloud Apollo hasn't played any Central Lake games yet, but that will change drastically this week with three matchups.
To avoid finishing in the bottom third of the conference again, they’ll have to win a couple games this week. Whether or not the Eagles can do that will rely heavily on Lariah Washington, who is 11th in the state in scoring with 25.2 points per game.