Basketball Game Preview: Valley View Cougars vs. Shamokin Area Indians

The Valley View Cougars will venture away from home to face off against the Shamokin Area Indians at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. Valley View will be looking to extend their current five-game winning streak.

Valley View is on a roll after a high-stakes playoff matchup on Tuesday. They took down Saucon Valley 42-25. Given the Cougars' advantage in MaxPreps' Pennsylvania basketball rankings (they are ranked 46th, while the Panthers are ranked 167th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

Meanwhile, even if it wasn't a dominant performance, Shamokin Area beat Allentown Central Catholic 59-53 on Tuesday. The win made it back-to-back victories for the Indians.

Valley View better focus on containing Joe Hile and Jenssyn Shuey as the pair were huge in Shamokin Area's win. Hile shot 65% from the field to rack up 25 points in addition to six boards and five assists, while Shuey went 8-for-10 en route to 18 points along with eight assists and five rebounds. That's the most points Shuey has posted since back in December of 2024. Another player making a difference was Cru Schroyer, who earned six points.

Shamokin Area was working as a unit and finished the game with 22 assists. That's the most assists they've managed all season.

Shamokin Area's victory bumped their record up to 25-4. As for Valley View, they pushed their record up to 22-5 with the win, which was their fourth straight on the road.

Valley View didn't have too much breathing room in their matchup against Shamokin Area in their previous matchup back in March of 2024, but they still walked away with a 61-57 victory. Will Valley View repeat their success, or does Shamokin Area have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.