Basketball Game Preview: Russell County Warriors vs. Abbeville Yellowjackets

The Russell County Warriors and the Abbeville Yellowjackets will compete for holiday cheer at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. One thing working in Russell County's favor is that they have posted at least 55 points in their last six matchups.

If Abbeville heads into halftime all tied up, they better play a good second half: that's when Russell County took over last week. Russell County walked away with a 58-51 victory over Chattahoochee County on Tuesday. Given the Warriors' advantage in MaxPreps' basketball rankings in their respective home states (they are ranked 73rd in Alabama, while the Panthers are ranked 333rd in Georgia), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

Meanwhile, Abbeville came tearing into Monday's contest with ten straight wins (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 30.2 points) and they left with even more momentum. They blew past the Warhawks 78-50. The Yellowjackets have made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won ten games by 22 points or more this season.

Russell County has been performing well recently as they've won five of their last six matchups, which provided a nice bump to their 9-3 record this season. The wins came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 59.3 points per game. As for Abbeville, they pushed their record up to 11-1 with the win, which was their seventh straight on the road.

Russell County couldn't quite finish off Abbeville in their previous matchup back in January of 2015 and fell 73-70. Can Russell County avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.