Basketball Game Preview: St. Mary's Ryken Knights vs. Paul VI Panthers

St. Mary's Ryken hasn't had much luck against Paul VI recently, but that could start to change on Friday. The St. Mary's Ryken Knights will be playing in front of their home fans against the Paul VI Panthers at 7:30 p.m. St. Mary's Ryken is strutting in with some offensive muscle as they've averaged 57.1 points per game this season.

St. Mary's Ryken is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of Maryland's top teams: Bishop McNamara, who was ranked first at the time (St. Mary's Ryken was ranked 21st). St. Mary's Ryken lost 67-47 to Bishop McNamara on Wednesday. The Knights were down 55-32 at the end of the third quarter, which was just too much to recover from.

Even though the team lost, they still had their share of impressive performances. One of the best came from Sydney Thompson, who went 6 for 12 on her way to 21 points and five rebounds. Vilte Kacerauskaite was another key player, putting up 16 points and seven boards.

Paul VI has been a dominant force so far, but they're in the middle of a mini-slump at the moment. They were five points away from ending the streak, but they lost a 60-55 heartbreaker at the hands of St. John's.

Paul VI's defeat ended a seven-game streak of wins at home and dropped them to 17-7. As for St. Mary's Ryken, their loss dropped their record down to 16-8.

St. Mary's Ryken was dealt a bruising 75-37 defeat at the hands of Paul VI in their previous meeting last Sunday. That contest was all but decided by halftime, at which point St. Mary's Ryken was down 56-13.