Basketball Game Preview: Richland Raiders vs. Fayetteville Tigers

Richland has gone 8-2 against Fayetteville recently and they'll look to pad the win column further on Monday. The Richland Raiders will challenge the Fayetteville Tigers. Richland is strutting in with some offensive muscle as they've averaged 53.4 points per game this season.

Richland made up a huge gap compared to their last game against Huntland, but they still couldn't quite topple them. Richland simply couldn't be stopped on Friday as they easily beat Huntland 61-20. The win was nothing new for the Raiders as they're now sitting on three straight.

Shelby Higgins and Bailey Blair were among the main playmakers for Richland as the former dropped a double-double with 23 points and 11 rebounds and the latter went 7-for-10 to rack up 21 points and five boards. That's the most boards Higgins has posted since back in January of 2024. Mary Avery Mcneese was another key player, putting up five points.

Meanwhile, it was a proper cat-fight when Fayetteville took on Santa Fe on Friday. Fayetteville took down Santa Fe 54-39. That 15 point margin sets a new team best for the Tigers this season.

Richland pushed their record up to 26-3 with the victory, which was their third straight at home. The wins came thanks in part to their defensive effort, having only surrendered 26.3 points on average over those games. As for Fayetteville, the win made it two in a row for them and bumps their season record up to 6-18.

Everything went Richland's way against Fayetteville in their previous matchup back in January, as Richland made off with a 58-35 victory. The rematch might be a little tougher for Richland since the team won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.