Preview: St. Mary's Ryken Knights vs. Bishop McNamara Mustangs
St. Mary's Ryken is 0-10 against Bishop McNamara since January of 2018 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Friday. The St. Mary's Ryken Knights will be staying on the road to face off against the Bishop McNamara Mustangs at 7:00 p.m. on January 26th. Hopefully St. Mary's Ryken focused on turnovers this week since the team gave up 15 last Thursday.
St. Mary's Ryken suffered their biggest loss yet this season last Thursday. Their rough 79-53 defeat to Our Lady of Good Counsel might stick with them for a while. While losing is never fun, St. Mary's Ryken can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Maryland basketball rankings (they are ranked 42nd, while Our Lady of Good Counsel is ranked ninth).
Despite the defeat, St. Mary's Ryken had strong showings from Za?hria Higginbotham, who scored 28 points along with six rebounds and three steals, and Sydney Thompson, who scored 14 points along with nine rebounds and two steals. Higginbotham has been hot recently, having posted two or more steals the last five times she's played. Sydney Prince was another key contributor, scoring five points along with five rebounds.
Meanwhile, Bishop McNamara waltzed into their game on Tuesday with ten straight wins but they left with 11. They really took it to Archbishop Carroll for the full four quarters, racking up a 58-28 win on the road. Bishop McNamara has made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won seven matchups by 24 points or more this season.
St. Mary's Ryken's defeat dropped their record down to 8-5. As for Bishop McNamara, they pushed their record up to 16-3 with that victory, which was their ninth straight on the road.
St. Mary's Ryken came up short against Bishop McNamara in their previous meeting back in January of 2023, falling 64-59. Can St. Mary's Ryken avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
