Basketball Game Preview: Rocky River Pirates vs. North Olmsted Eagles

Rocky River is 7-0 against North Olmsted since December of 2014 and they'll have a chance to extend that success on Saturday. The Rocky River Pirates will venture away from home to face off against the North Olmsted Eagles at 12:30 p.m. Rocky River is strutting in with some offensive muscle as they've averaged 51.9 points per game this season.

Rocky River is headed into the contest out to prove that what happened against Chaminade Julienne Catholic on Friday (when they were outscored in every quarter) was just a minor bump in the road. Rocky River came up short against Chaminade Julienne Catholic, falling 44-22. While losing is never fun, the Pirates can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Ohio basketball rankings (they are ranked 170th, while the Eagles are ranked fourth).

Despite the defeat, Rocky River saw an underclassman step up: sophomore Elizabeth Lang dropped a double-double on ten points and 11 boards. Lang has been hot, having posted ten or more rebounds the last six times she's played.

Meanwhile, North Olmsted didn't have too much breathing room in their game against North Royalton last Monday, but they still walked away with a 45-41 win. The victory made it back-to-back wins for the Eagles.

Rocky River better focus on containing Katie Strong and Taylor Wengstrom as the pair were huge in North Olmsted's win. Strong posted seven points and seven rebounds, while Wengstrom put up 11 points along with six boards and three steals. The team also got some help courtesy of Julia Tahsin, who had nine points.

Rocky River's loss ended a four-game streak of away wins and brought them to 8-3. As for North Olmsted, their victory bumped their record up to 4-5.

Rebounding is likely to be a big factor in this contest: Rocky River has crashing the boards this season, having averaged 38.4 rebounds per game. However, it's not like North Olmsted struggles in that department as they've been averaging 31.6 boards. With both teams battling to corral missed shots, we'll see if one team can grab an edge.

Rocky River came out on top in a nail-biter against North Olmsted in their previous matchup back in February of 2024, sneaking past 38-35. Does Rocky River have another victory up their sleeve, or will North Olmsted turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.