Basketball Game Preview: Saint Viator Lions vs. Joliet Catholic Hilltoppers

Saint Viator has gone 8-2 against Joliet Catholic recently and they'll look to pad the win column further on Wednesday. The Saint Viator Lions will host the Joliet Catholic Hilltoppers at 7:00 p.m. Saint Viator will be strutting in after a win while Joliet Catholic will be coming in after a loss.

While Saint Viator didn't have the best season last year (they finished 10-25), it's starting to look like those struggles are a thing of the past. They were the clear victor by a 50-28 margin over Prairie Ridge on Saturday. Given the Lions' advantage in MaxPreps' Illinois basketball rankings (they are ranked 138th, while the Wolves are ranked 459th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

Bella Gounaris

Points (Career)

12/07/24 vs Prairie Ridge	19
12/05/24 @ St. Francis	17
11/18/24 vs Highland Park	14
11/30/24 @ Taft	12
11/22/24 @ Mundelein	11

Saint Viator can attribute much of their success to Bella Gounaris, who posted 19 points, and Ava Garcia, who almost dropped a double-double on 14 points and nine boards. Those 19 points gave Gounaris a new career-high.

Meanwhile, Joliet Catholic was not able to break out of their rough patch on Monday as the team picked up their fifth straight defeat. They were dealt a 56-26 loss at the hands of Marian Catholic.

Joliet Catholic's defeat dropped their record down to 1-8. As for Saint Viator, they have been performing well recently as they've won four of their last five matchups, which provided a nice bump to their 7-2 record this season.

Everything went Saint Viator's way against Joliet Catholic in their previous meeting back in January, as Saint Viator made off with a 53-32 victory. Will Saint Viator repeat their success, or does Joliet Catholic have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.