Preview: Richmond Heights Spartans vs. Villa Angela-St. Joseph Vikings
The Richmond Heights Spartans will wrap up 2023 with a road trip to face off against the Villa Angela-St. Joseph Vikings at 3:30 p.m. on Friday. Richmond Heights will be coming into the contest with an undefeated record on the line.
Richmond Heights has made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won four contests by 30 points or more this season. They blew past Orange, posting a 63-30 victory on the road. Given Richmond Heights' advantage in MaxPreps' Ohio basketball rankings (they are ranked 88th, while Orange is ranked 596th), the result two weeks ago wasn't entirely unexpected.
Meanwhile, Villa Angela-St. Joseph was within striking distance but couldn't close the gap on Saturday as they fell 58-52 to Cornerstone Christian.
Despite the defeat, Villa Angela-St. Joseph saw an underclassman step up: Elizabeth Dunmire scored 26 points along with five rebounds and four blocks. The game was Dunmire's ninth in a row with at least ten points. The team also got some help courtesy of Leila Johnson, who scored four points along with 12 rebounds.
Richmond Heights pushed their record up to 6-0 with that win, which was their third straight on the road. Those good results were due in large part to their offensive dominance across that stretch, as they averaged 57.7 points per game. As for Villa Angela-St. Joseph, their loss dropped their record down to 6-3.
Richmond Heights beat Villa Angela-St. Joseph 40-27 in their previous matchup back in February. The rematch might be a little tougher for Richmond Heights since the team won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
