The Washington Demons are hoping to make one of their longest road trips of the basketball season a productive one when they visit Keokuk tonight for a conference doubleheader that you can hear on KCII.

The Washington girls are coming off a win on Monday over Centerville that ended a four-game losing streak. The Demons are 4-9 overall and 2-3 in the Southeast Conference, led by a dominant defense that gives up only 40-and-a-half points per game.

Junior guard Adalyn Long leads the team in scoring by putting up over 10 points a game. Head coach Shannon Rugg tells KCII Sports that they’ll need to play well on both ends of the floor to beat a Keokuk team that is 9-3 this season and has won three straight Southeast Conference championships.

“Offensively, [we have to be] just attacking the basket and cutting our turnovers down,” Rugg says. “Our girls have a little bit more freedom to drive the ball. Everything’s spaced out a little bit better. And, defensive-wise, we’re going to bring the intensity, and we’re going to dig in and compete there.”

The Washington boys have lost three straight to start January and are 5-6, including a 3-2 conference record. Senior Logan McDole leads the team by averaging over 11 points and three assists a game, while junior Drew Conrad has been a force on offense as well, pouring in over 10 points per contest.

As they take on a Keokuk squad that has won seven straight since an 0-3 start, Demons head coach Collin Stark says the experience of rallying from a 13-point deficit in the second half to beat the Chiefs earlier this season is something they’ll need to lean on.

“Offensively, [we have been] making sure that we have even more things to go to late [in a] game that, if I don’t have a timeout,” Stark says, “we can feel comfortable and get into something.”

You can catch both battles with Keokuk this evening in the latest edition of Washington Demon basketball on KCII, starting with the Countdown to Tip-Off at 5:30 on 106.1 FM and streaming on KCIIradio.com and the KCII1 app.