Basketball Game Preview: Santa Fe Wildcats vs. Richland Raiders

Santa Fe is 0-10 against Richland since January of 2021 but things could change on Friday. The Santa Fe Wildcats will head out to take on the Richland Raiders at 6:00 p.m.

Last Tuesday, Santa Fe ended up a good deal behind Cornersville and lost 49-32. While losing is never fun, the Wildcats can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Tennessee basketball rankings (they are ranked 310th, while the Bulldogs are ranked 149th).

Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Richland). They really took it to Eagleville for the full four quarters, racking up a 68-31 victory. The Raiders have made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won six matches by 23 points or more this season.

Santa Fe better focus on containing Shelby Higgins and Bailey Blair as the pair were huge in Richland's win. Higgins went 8 for 14 on her way to 19 points in addition to six boards and three steals, while Blair went 7 of 11 en route to 17 points and five assists. Blair's evening made it eight games in a row in which she has scored at least ten points. Kate Kirk was another key player, putting up eight points and seven rebounds.

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

Richland has been performing incredibly well recently as they've won eight of their last nine contests, which provided a nice bump to their 13-2 record this season. Those victories came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 53.0 points per game. As for Santa Fe, their loss dropped their record down to 4-11.

Things could have been worse for Santa Fe, but things could have been a whole lot better as they took a 39-24 loss to Richland in their previous matchup back in February of 2024. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Higgins, who went 5 for 9 en route to 17 points and six boards. Now that Santa Fe knows the damage she can cause, will they be able to stop her this time? There's only one way to find out.