Valley View and Notre Dame are an even 4-4 against one another since December of 2018, but not for long. Both will round out the year against one another at at 1:30 p.m. on Thursday. Valley View is coming into the game on a three-game losing streak.
Valley View is headed into the match out to prove that what happened against Great Oak on Tuesday (when they were outscored in every quarter) was just a minor bump in the road. Valley View was outmatched by Great Oak and fell 70-31. The Eagles were in a tough position after the first half, with the score already sitting at 46-21.
Loss or not, Valley View got some senior leadership from Kenneth Hutchinson and Reshawn Alexander. Hutchinson posted ten points, while Alexander earned six points.
Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Notre Dame). They blew past Rim of the World 65-40 on Friday. With that win, the Titans brought their scoring average up to 50.4 points per game.
Notre Dame's win came from a few key players Valley View will need to keep an eye on. One of the most notable was Jaxon Coduti, who dropped a double-double on 23 points and ten boards. Coduti is crushing it when it comes to rebounds: he's pulled down at least eight every time he's taken the court this season. The team also got some help courtesy of Caiden Broughton, who almost dropped a double-double on 15 points and nine rebounds.
Notre Dame smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 11 offensive boards. That's the most offensive rebounds they've managed all season.
Valley View's defeat dropped their record down to 3-10. As for Notre Dame, they moved to 3-7 with that victory, which also ended their three-game losing streak.
Rebounding is likely to be a big factor in this contest: Valley View has crashing the boards this season, having averaged 20.8 boards per game. However, it's not like Notre Dame struggles in that department as they've been averaging 28.9 rebounds. With both teams battling to corral missed shots, we'll see if one team can grab an edge.
Valley View couldn't quite finish off Notre Dame in their previous meeting back in January of 2022 and fell 65-62. Thankfully for Valley View, Timothy Steward Iii (who went 8 of 18 on his way to 26 points and seven rebounds) won't be suiting up this time. Will that be enough to change the final result? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
