The Washington Demons are hoping to get back in the win column in conference basketball tonight when both teams visit Fort Madison for a doubleheader you can hear on KCII.

The Washington girls came up just short to Mid-Prairie their last time out and fell to 6-13, but the Demons had won two of their previous three games and have been close to more wins than that with six losses by a single-digit margin.

Junior Adalyn Long leads the offensive attack by averaging 12 points per game and has been at her best since January, averaging over 15 points per contest. Meanwhile, the Washington defense continues to be stout, giving up only 42 points a game.

A great defensive effort still ended in one of those close losses for the Demons when they first met Fort Madison this season, a 32-28 defeat to a Bloodhound team with a current record of 12-5.

Head coach Shannon Rugg tells KCII Sports that he believes his team is ready to get their redemption because they always find a way to stay in the game late.

“That’s been our M.O. all year long,” Rugg says. “We’ve got to keep putting ourselves in that position, and now we’ve just got to figure out a way to close those games out.”

The Washington boys picked up maybe their most impressive win of the season in their last game when they beat Mid-Prairie 68-50 on Monday, raising their record to 8-10.

Senior Logan McDole paces the Demons with 12 points per game scored, but junior Drew Conrad is coming off a 20-point, 10-rebound effort against Mid-Prairie and joins McDole and sophomore Nic Stone in averaging double-figure scoring.

Washington is looking to bounce back from losing 68-49 when they first played Fort Madison in January. Demons head coach Collin Stark tells KCII Sports they need to approach this second meeting with a better defensive performance.

“We’re going to really need to break down that film,” Stark says. “They did the circle-motion offense, and it really hurt us not communicating. That’s something that we just need to make sure we’ve got down, because if we can improve our defensive effort, I think the outcome’s going to be different.”

Both Washington teams come in with 4-4 records in the Southeast Conference. You can tune in to hear Demon basketball face Fort Madison this evening on 106.1 FM KCII and streaming on KCIIradio.com and the KCII app, starting with the Countdown to Tip-Off at 5:30.