Basketball Game Preview: Prairie Ridge Wolves vs. Crystal Lake Central Tigers

Prairie Ridge and Crystal Lake Central are an even 5-5 against one another since February of 2021, but not for long. The Prairie Ridge Wolves will challenge the Crystal Lake Central Tigers at 6:00 p.m. on Friday. Both come into the matchup bolstered by wins in their previous matches.

Having struggled with three defeats in a row, Prairie Ridge turned things around against Jacobs on Wednesday. They walked away with a 51-42 win over the Golden Eagles.

Meanwhile, Crystal Lake Central had already won eight in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 17.9 points) and they went ahead and made it nine on Wednesday. They blew past the Warriors 40-13. Given the Tigers' advantage in MaxPreps' Illinois basketball rankings (they are ranked 194th, while the Warriors are ranked 571st), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

Crystal Lake Central is also on a roll lately: they've won 12 of their last 15 contests, which provided a nice bump to their 16-6 record this season. As for Prairie Ridge, their victory bumped their record up to 9-12.

Prairie Ridge came out on top in a nail-biter against Crystal Lake Central in their previous meeting back in December of 2024, sneaking past 40-38. The rematch might be a little tougher for Prairie Ridge since the squad won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.