Basketball Game Preview: Clearwater Central Catholic Marauders vs. River Ridge Royal Knights

The Clearwater Central Catholic Marauders will head out to challenge the River Ridge Royal Knights at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.

River Ridge will be up against a hot Clearwater Central Catholic team: the squad just extended their winning streak to six. Clearwater Central Catholic took their match on Friday with ease, bagging a 60-26 victory over Largo. The Marauders pushed the score to 58-16 by the end of the third, a deficit the Packers cut but never quite recovered from.

Sophia Landen and Emme Dalhoff were among the main playmakers for Clearwater Central Catholic as the former went 7 for 9 from beyond the arc en route to 25 points and eight boards and the latter almost dropped a double-double on ten points and nine assists. Dalhoff is also crushing it when it comes to steals: she's grabbed at least two every time she's taken the court this season. Julia Comfort was another key player, putting up 11 points.

Clearwater Central Catholic smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 18 offensive boards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least 13 offensive rebounds in six consecutive games.

Meanwhile, River Ridge won against Gulf on Tuesday with 50 points and they decided to stick to that point total again on Friday. River Ridge blew past Wiregrass Ranch 50-16. For those keeping track at home, that's the biggest win the Royal Knights have posted against the Bulls since December 28, 2019.

Clearwater Central Catholic pushed their record up to 19-4 with the victory, which was their 16th straight at home dating back to last season. Those victories came thanks to their defensive effort, having only surrendered 29.9 points per game. As for River Ridge, they are on a roll lately: they've won eight of their last nine contests, which provided a nice bump to their 17-7 record this season.