Basketball Game Preview: Riverview Raiders vs. Serra Catholic Eagles

Two dominant guards in Katerina Tsambis and Bella Dumbroski are getting ready to go toe-to-toe. The Riverview Raiders will be playing at home against the Serra Catholic Eagles at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday. The timing is sure in Riverview's favor as the team sits on four straight wins at home while Serra Catholic has been banged up by three consecutive losses on the road.

Riverview will bounce into Saturday's matchup after beating St. Joseph, who they had gone 1-8 against in their nine prior meetings. Riverview came out on top against St. Joseph by a score of 55-48 on Monday.

Katerina Tsambis

Points

01/27/25 vs Apollo Ridge	27
02/10/25 vs St. Joseph	26
01/30/25 @ Frazier	24
01/18/25 @ Deer Lakes	23
12/04/24 vs Springdale	23
+ 13 more games

Riverview's success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but Tsambis led the charge by going 9-for-21 on her way to 26 points. Tsambis is becoming a predictor of Riverview's success: when she posts at least 15 points the team is 14-1 (and 0-3 when she doesn't). Lily Bauer was another key player, dropping a double-double with 13 points and 13 rebounds.

Meanwhile, Serra Catholic ended up a good deal behind Winchester Thurston on Monday and lost 64-45.

Despite the loss, Serra Catholic saw an underclassman step up: freshman Dumbroski went 11-for-22 en route to 25 points along with six assists and five boards. Dumbroski has been hot recently, having also posted two or more steals the last three times she's played. Another player making a difference was Kendalyn Niedermeyer, who posted nine points in addition to five assists and three steals.

Riverview has been performing incredibly well recently as they've won seven of their last eight games, which provided a nice bump to their 14-4 record this season. A key ingredient in that success has been their performance when it comes to three-point shooting accuracy: their three-point shooting accuracy was 35.3% in those games and 24% outside of them. As for Serra Catholic, their defeat dropped their record down to 12-10.

Rebounding is likely to be a big factor in this contest: Riverview has been smashing the glass this season, having averaged 31.3 rebounds per game. However, it's not like Serra Catholic struggles in that department as they've been averaging 28 boards. With both teams battling to corral missed shots, we'll see if one team can grab an edge.

Riverview might still be hurting after the 64-39 loss they got from Serra Catholic when the teams last played back in January of 2020. Thankfully for Riverview, Rayna Andrews (who dropped a double-double with 25 points and 14 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.