Basketball Game Preview: Villa Angela-St. Joseph Vikings vs. Norton Panthers

The Villa Angela-St. Joseph Vikings will take on the Norton Panthers at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.

Villa Angela-St. Joseph is on a roll after a high-stakes playoff matchup on Saturday. They simply couldn't be stopped as they easily beat Conneaut 74-36. The win was familiar territory for the Vikings, who have now won three matchups in a row.

Elizabeth Dunmire

Points

02/15/25 vs Conneaut	27
02/05/25 vs Holy Name	32
02/01/25 vs Max S. Hayes	24
01/29/25 vs Cornerstone Christian	20
01/24/25 @ John F. Kennedy	31
01/23/25 @ John Hay	20

Villa Angela-St. Joseph can attribute much of their success to Elizabeth Dunmire, who went 12-for-25 en route to 27 points along with six boards and five assists, and Sydney Dunmire, who went 8-for-11 to rack up 20 points in addition to six rebounds and five steals. The contest was Elizabeth's sixth in a row with at least 20 points. The team also got some help courtesy of Cecelia Oriani, who posted eight points and six steals.

Villa Angela-St. Joseph smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 21 offensive rebounds. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least ten offensive boards in 25 consecutive games dating back to last season.

Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Norton). They claimed a resounding 76-21 victory over Cleveland Central Catholic. Given the Panthers' advantage in MaxPreps' Ohio basketball rankings (they are ranked 222nd, while the Ironmen are ranked 529th), the result on Saturday wasn't entirely unexpected.

Norton is on a roll lately: they've won ten of their last 11 matchups, which provided a massive bump to their 13-9 record this season. The wins came thanks in part to their defensive effort, having only surrendered 29.4 points over those games. As for Villa Angela-St. Joseph, their win was their third straight at home, which pushed their record up to 14-9.