Basketball Game Preview: Ridgeview Panthers vs. Ribault Trojans

The Ridgeview Panthers and the Ribault Trojans will compete for holiday cheer at 12:30 p.m. on Thursday. Both come into the match bolstered by wins in their previous matches.

Last Monday, the stars were shining brightly for Ridgeview in a 47-30 victory over Eagle's View. The Panthers pushed the score to 37-16 by the end of the third, a deficit the Warriors cut but never quite recovered from.

Nacoya Blocton and Narissa Blocton were among the main playmakers for Ridgeview as the former dropped a double-double on 22 points and ten boards and the latter posted 19 points along with seven steals and six boards. The dominant performance also gave Nacoya a new career-high in blocks (seven).

Meanwhile, Ribault got the win against Paxon School For Advanced Studies on Tuesday by a conclusive 65-42. The Trojans have made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won four contests by 23 points or more this season.

Ridgeview better focus on containing Terrannya Medlock and Trinity Berry as the pair were huge in Ribault's win. Medlock almost dropped a double-double on 21 points and nine boards, while Berry went 6 of 13 on her way to 21 points. Medlock is also crushing it when it comes to blocks: she's posted at least two every time she's taken the court this season. Destiny Donaldson was another key player, putting up ten points and six rebounds.

Ribault was working as a unit and finished the game with 18 assists. That's the most assists they've managed all season.

Ribault has been performing incredibly well recently as they've won six of their last seven games, which provided a massive bump to their 6-5 record this season. Those victories came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 65.1 points per game. As for Ridgeview, they pushed their record up to 5-2 with the win, which was their third straight on the road.

Ridgeview came up short against Ribault in their previous matchup back in December of 2023, falling 55-42. Can Ridgeview avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.