Basketball Game Preview: River Valley Panthers vs. West Shamokin Wolves

The River Valley Panthers will head out on the road to face off against the West Shamokin Wolves at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday. River Valley knows how to get points on the board -- the team has finished with 55 points or more in their past four games -- so hopefully West Shamokin likes a good challenge.

Last Tuesday, River Valley came up short against Marion Center and fell 71-61.

Meanwhile, West Shamokin had already won two in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 19 points) and they went ahead and made it three on Tuesday. They came out on top against the Comets by a score of 39-31. Given the Wolves' advantage in MaxPreps' Pennsylvania basketball rankings (they are ranked 137th, while the Comets are ranked 431st), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

West Shamokin has also been performing incredibly well recently as they've won 13 of their last 14 matches, which provided a nice bump to their 16-3 record this season. The wins came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 58.8 points per game. As for River Valley, they have been struggling recently as they've lost nine of their last ten contests, which put a noticeable dent in their 8-13 record this season.

River Valley came up short against West Shamokin in their previous matchup on January 7th, falling 62-49. Can River Valley avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.