It was a good run, but the Ritchie County Rebels unfortunately witnessed the end of their three-game winning streak on Friday. They fell to Wirt County 47-42. The matchup was a 21-21 toss-up at halftime, but Ritchie County was outscored by Wirt County in the second.
Despite the loss, Ritchie County saw an underclassman step up: Isaac Hodges dropped a double-double on 26 points and 11 rebounds. Hodges scored a full 61.9% of Ritchie County's points, the fourth time in a row he's earned more than a third of the team's points. The team also got some help courtesy of Bodhi Utter, who scored three points along with five steals.
Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead Wirt County to victory, but perhaps none more so than Connor Hoover, who scored 11 points along with six rebounds. Another player making a difference was Braylan Dawson, who scored 11 points along with four steals.
Ritchie County's loss ended a seven-game streak of wins at home dating back to last season and dropped them to 3-1. As for Wirt County, the win got them back to even at 3-3.
Both squads are looking forward to the support of their home crowds in their upcoming games. Ritchie County has the luxury of staying home another game and will welcome Tyler at 7:15 p.m. on December 29th. Tyler is coming into the match on a three-game losing streak. Wirt County will finish 2023 at home by hosting Calhoun at 2:45 p.m. on Wednesday. Calhoun is strutting with some offensive muscle, as they've averaged 54.3 points per game.
