Basketball Game Preview: Richland Raiders vs. Hampshire Hawks

Richland has gone 10-0 against Hampshire recently and they'll look to pad the win column further on Friday. The Richland Raiders will challenge the Hampshire Hawks at 6:00 p.m. The teams are on pretty different trajectories at the moment (Richland has ten straight wins, Hampshire has four straight losses), but none of that matters once you're on the court.

Richland is headed into the matchup after thoroughly thrashing Santa Fe: they outscored them in every quarter. Given that consistent dominance, it should come as no surprise that Richland blew Santa Fe out of the water with a 60-26 final score. The Raiders have made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won 11 contests by 22 points or more this season.

Shelby Higgins continued her habit of posting crazy stat lines, going 6 of 11 from beyond the arc en route to 30 points and five boards. That's the most points she has posted since back in February of 2024. Another player making a difference was Bailey Blair, who posted 12 points.

Meanwhile, Hampshire took a blow against Cornersville on Tuesday, falling 63-32. While losing is never fun, the Hawks can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Tennessee basketball rankings (they are ranked 361st, while the Bulldogs are ranked 157th).

Richland has been performing incredibly well recently as they've won 16 of their last 17 games, which provided a nice bump to their 21-2 record this season. The wins came thanks to their defensive effort, having only surrendered 29.9 points per game. As for Hampshire, their defeat dropped their record down to 4-10.

Everything came up roses for Richland against Hampshire in their previous meeting back in January, as the squad secured a 74-10 victory. The rematch might be a little tougher for Richland since the team won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.