Basketball Game Preview: Roxana Shells vs. Richland County Tigers

Roxana is 0-3 against Richland County since December of 2014 but things could change on Monday. The Roxana Shells will be taking part in a tournament against the Richland County Tigers at 4:00 p.m. Both teams took a loss in their last game, so they'll have plenty of motivation to get the 'W'.

Roxana's tournament run continued when they took on Carlyle on Saturday. Roxana took a 53-45 hit to the loss column at the hands of Carlyle. While losing is never fun, the Shells can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Illinois basketball rankings (they are ranked 312th, while the Indians/Lady Indians are ranked 22nd).

Roxana's defeat came about despite a quality game from Jake Newton, who posted eight points and ten rebounds. Those ten boards gave Newton a new career-high. Another player making a difference was Cohen Dugan, who had eight points.

Meanwhile, it was a proper cat-fight when Richland County took on Jersey on Saturday. Richland County fell 60-51 to Jersey. The Tigers have now taken an 'L' in back-to-back games.

The match pitted two dominant guards against one another in Arjay Keller and Jaxon Brunaugh. Brunaugh had a great game and went 13 of 20 on his way to 31 points. Meanwhile, Keller did his best for the losing side, putting up nine points.

Roxana now has a losing record at 6-7. As for Richland County, their loss dropped their record down to 8-7.

Rebounding is likely to be a big factor in this contest: Roxana has crashing the boards this season, having averaged 26.2 boards per game. However, it's not like Richland County struggles in that department as they've been averaging 21.7 rebounds. With both teams battling to corral missed shots, we'll see if one team can grab an edge.

Roxana suffered a grim 49-24 defeat to Richland County in their previous meeting back in December of 2023. Can Roxana avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.