Basketball Game Preview: Riverside Panthers vs. Ellwood City Wolverine

Riverside hasn't had much luck against Ellwood City recently, but that could start to change on Monday. The Riverside Panthers will take on the Ellwood City Wolverine at 6:00 p.m. Both teams took a loss in their last game, so they'll have plenty of motivation to get the 'W'.

Last Monday, Riverside came up short against Our Lady of the Sacred Heart and fell 50-41. While losing is never fun, the Panthers can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Pennsylvania basketball rankings (they are ranked 449th, while the Chargers are ranked 123rd).

Meanwhile, Ellwood City ended up a good deal behind Our Lady of the Sacred Heart on Thursday and lost 60-41. The defeat continues a trend for the Wolverine in their matchups with the Chargers: they've now lost three in a row.

Riverside will have to keep a close watch on Delaney Sturgeon and Caitlin Kreitzer, a pair of players who had a big impact on Ellwood City's prior game. Sturgeon posted nine points and eight boards, while Kreitzer went 9 of 14 en route to 21 points. Those 21 points gave Kreitzer a new career-high.

Ellwood City's loss dropped their record down to 8-6. As for Riverside, this is the second loss in a row for them and nudges their season record down to 3-6.

Riverside didn't have too much breathing room in their contest against Ellwood City when the teams last played back in December of 2024, but they still walked away with a 54-50 win. The rematch might be a little tougher for Riverside since the squad won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.