Basketball Game Preview: Oak Ridge War Eagles vs. Grand Oaks Grizzlies

Oak Ridge is 1-8 against Grand Oaks since January of 2021 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Friday. The Oak Ridge War Eagles will be playing at home against the Grand Oaks Grizzlies at 6:30 p.m.

Oak Ridge is likely headed into the contest with a focus on the second half, which is when things went downhill against Conroe on Friday. Oak Ridge was just a bucket shy of victory and fell 44-43 to Conroe.

Despite the defeat, Oak Ridge got top-tier performance from Synarea Reece, who dropped a double-double on 12 points and ten rebounds. What's more, Reece also racked up six assists, the most she's had since back in November of 2024. Another player making a difference was Jordan Daigle, who dropped a double-double on 17 points and ten boards.

Meanwhile, Grand Oaks entered their tilt with Conroe on Tuesday with 15 consecutive wins but they'll enter their next game with 16. They came out on top in a nail-biter against the Tigers, sneaking past 29-26. The 29-point effort marked the Grizzlies' lowest-scoring matchup of the season, but in the end it didn't matter.

Grand Oaks pushed their record up to 28-3 with the victory, which was their 16th straight at home dating back to last season. Those victories came thanks to their defensive effort, having only surrendered 28.7 points per game. As for Oak Ridge, their loss dropped their record down to 16-16.

Oak Ridge took a serious blow against Grand Oaks in their previous meeting back in December of 2024, falling 55-28. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Grand Oaks' Bree Riley, who went 10 for 23 on her way to 32 points and four steals. Now that Oak Ridge knows the damage she can cause, will they be able to stop her this time? There's only one way to find out.